Ashes to Ashes
by SetThisWorldOnFire
Summary: It wasn't enough that the girl I liked told me she hated me, but then they banished me from my home! Of course my bad luck continued, and I ended up sealed in some kind of otherworldly hell. I spent 3,000 years down there, becoming a god in my own right. But when I finally crawled my way out, I found out only 3 years have passed...guess I'll just have to burn Konoha myself!
1. I: Freedom

**Summary:** **It wasn't enough that the girl I liked told me she hated me, but then they banished me from my home! Of course my bad luck continued, and I ended up sealed in some kind of otherworldly hell. I spent 3,000 years down there, becoming a god in my own right. But when I finally crawled my way out, I found out only 3 years have passed...guess I'll just have to burn Konoha myself!**

 **Contains: Multiple Crossovers, Dark!Naruto, Overpowered!Naruto, Manipulative!Smart!Naruto, Female!Submissive/Slave!Kurama, a Harem, Civilian Council Bashing, Sakura Bashing (at first), Lemons, and More!**

 **Current Crossovers: Bleach, RWBY, Devil May Cry, Percy Jackson & The Olympians**

 **Current Harem: Neopolitan (RWBY) (Main Pairing), Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Rukia Kuchiki, Tia Halibel, Fem!Ulquiorra, Lady, Trish**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any crossovers used.**

* * *

 _Panting hard, I walk through the forest, carrying Sasuke on my back as I did. It hurts to move, but I guess it must be a side effect of using the fox's chakra for too long, guess I'll just have to cope with it. Sasuke will be pissed at me once he wakes up, but he should realise I'm doing this for his own good. I'm not going to let someone like Orochimaru take his body. I'm not letting him make that mistake!_

 _Walking through the forest, I can see all the destruction our chase has caused...I frown slightly as I see all the blood and sigh sadly. So much destruction...maybe the Kyuubi's chakra is still in my system, but I can smell the blood and death around me. I sigh sadly, and just keep walking towards Konoha. It's all I can do right now. I have to complete my mission._

 _I don't know how long I've been walking, but I can finally see it. Home. I've finally made it back. Unbidden, a fond smile creeps onto my face. It feels like so long since I've been home, and I've never been more glad to be back. I pick up the pace, my goal for completing my mission motivating me to speed up._

 _Stopping at the gates, I smile. "I'm back...ttebayo..." I whisper softly to myself, and I see pink hair in the distance. My eyes light up in excitement at the sight of Sakura, my heartbeat speeding up. I start to walk towards her as she draws closer, "Hey Saku-" I start to say, but my eyes widen as a stinging pain hits my cheek._

 _She just slapped me._

 _"You bastard!" she screams at me, and all I can do is stare at her in shock. "I told you to bring him back to me, not beat him up like this! I hate you, you monster!" with that said, she tore Sasuke from my grip. I didn't even resist as I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces. "Let's go Sasuke-kun," I heard her whisper to the Uchiha._

 _Watching her take him to the hospital, I look down, feeling defeated. "Damn it..." I mutter, punching the ground. "Damn it..." I punch it harder. "Damn it, damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!" with each damn it, I hit the ground harder and harder. By the time I'm done punching, my knuckles are soaked in my own blood, and I can feel the hot salty tears running down my face. "Damn it..."_

 _"Uzumaki Naruto!" I glance up, only to see the Civilian Council standing in front of me. Seeing their smirks, my heart sinks. I know whatever they are about to say, it sure as hell isn't going to be good for me._

 _"What?" I ask. I didn't even cringe at how bitter my own voice sounds._

 _"By official decree of the council," the one in the front- a fat man with brown hair and green eyes- spoke up. "You have been deemed dangerous, and a threat to Konoha! And as such, you are hereby banished!" my jaw drops, and I can feel my skin lose all colour. "You are to leave Konoha within 24 hours, or suffer the consequences!"_

 _I don't even respond, I just stare, unable to talk. They grin smugly at me one more time before turning and walking away. I look down at the ground once more and close my hands into fists. Why am I being punished? Why am I dangerous? Why...why did they do this to me?_

 _Why am I still in this hell...?_

* * *

 **I: Freedom**

In a dark cavern where no light could reach, a strange statue was against the wall. It was a head of some kind, with 9 eyes, all of them sealed shut. Rising from the ground were two hands, 9 of which had a different glowing kanji on it. The strange part was what was happening with the statue. A blue light was flowing into it's mouth, absorbing a red energy of some kind.

Where did this energy come from?

It came from Sabaku No Gaara, the Godaime Kazekage, now a helpless shell as his Bijuu was being extracted from him. Stood atop the 9 of the 10 fingers of the statue were a group of S-Rank Criminals that hunted down Jinchuuriki and stole their Bijuu: the Akatsuki. It was difficult to tell them apart from a distance, as they all wore the uniform: a black cloak with red clouds on it.

"Oi, Leader-Sama," a blonde man with a feminine hair style spoke, his left eye covered by his hair. "Just how long will the extraction take, un?"

"It will take three days and nights, Deidara," 'Leader-Sama' spoke up. His eyes were purple with a ripple pattern, however any other features he had were impossible to see, as he was only visible and heard in the room due to a technique that allowed him to transfer his mind and chakra to the cavern, as were 6 other members of the organisation.

"Really?" Deidara raised an eyebrow. "I thought that without Orochimaru it was gonna take longer than that."

"Silence Deidara," Sasori spoke gruffly, his metal tail swinging slowly. "We must focu-"

Sadly for Sasori, he was cut off as a crazed laughter filled the room. Everyone looked around, but were unable to find the source. Then their eyes widened in shock as before their very eyes, a pitch-black portal of some kind opened up on the ground and a hand erupted from it before it grabbed the Earth, gripping it tightly. "Hahaha! Finally! I'm out!"

All the Akatsuki could do was watch as a being covered in an ebony black cloak came out of the portal. They tried to see his face, but were unable to. All they could see through his hood was a pair of golden eyes. He stood up, and laughed loudly. "HAHAHA! AND THEY SAID I WAS CRAZY! THEY SAID IT COULDN'T BE DONE! BUT I'M OUT! I'M FREE!" the man's crazed laughter filled the room.

Kisame grinned. "Oh? And just who the hell is this? A new recruit, Leader-Sama?"

"No..." the Leader's eyes narrowed. "You. Identify yourself."

The cloaked man stopped laughing and glanced up at the leader, his raised eyebrow being unseen under his claok. "This is the welcoming party? How rude..." it was then the man seemed to notice the blue light and red energy. Following it, his eyes widened. "Gaara? But...how...it can't be! It's been..."

Realisation appeared to dawn on him. "I see...so Konoha is still standing then..." the Akatsuki raised an eyebrow, but before they could question him, the man burst out laughing. "PERFECT! THEN I'LL BURN IT TO THE GROUND MYSELF! But for now..." the man looked up at the Akatsuki. "I'm afraid I'm not going to let you kill Gaara."

Itachi's eyes narrowed, though it was for his comment of burning Konoha. "And how are you going to stop us?" he questioned, his voice emotionless.

The man just smirked under his hood. "Oh you can revive the Juubi, I don't give a fuck about that," many of them appeared confused at the man's statement. "But Gaara dying? That's a BIIIIG no..." his right eye shifted from gold to silver, and a brilliant light filled the room.

The light cleared, but nothing had changed. Deidara smirked. "Was that supposed to do something, un?" he tried to reach his pouch of clay, but his eyes widened...he couldn't move his body. He was frozen.

All around him, his fellow Akatsuki members appeared to have the same problem. Their mouths and eyes could move, but otherwise they couldn't move at all.

"Like I said," the man smirked as he walked to the statue. "I can't have you kill Gaara..." he stared at the energy and light for a minute, before he punched the statue in the jaw with such force, it's mouth slammed shut, cutting off the flow of energy, as a single eye opened. "There, you have enough energy from Shukaku, you won't need anymore."

"What did you just do?" the leader demanded.

The man chuckled, "Sorry, but I'm not going to give out my secrets so easily." Walking over, he picked up Gaara carefully. "Come on buddy, let's get you back to Suna."

"Sasori, Deidara, stop him!" the leader ordered.

"We can't," Sasori said in his gruff voice. "That light has disabled our bodies somehow. We can't move anything but our mouths and eyes."

Whistling, the man walked to the boulder blocking the way. "Huh, it looks like a pebble is in my way," he muttered before tapping it with his foot. It turned into dust in less than a second. "Much better..." he stepped into the light outside before stopping and glancing back. "Oh yes, just one last thing Akatsuki..."

Reaching up, the man lowered his hood, and even the stotic Itachi's eyes widened in shock. Standing there, smirking at them darkly, was a young man of 19, his spiky blonde hair in a pony tail, his whisker marks making his smirk look like that of a fox. His silver eye turned back to gold as he stared them down. "Stop me on my quest of vengeance, and I'll bestow upon you a fate worse then death itself! Mark my words, cross me and you'll regret it!"

With his piece said, Uzumaki Naruto vanished into white rose petals, stained red with blood.

* * *

As he carried Gaara on his back and walked through the desert, Naruto hummed. It has been a _long_ time since he'd been on the surface...well, a long time for him. For him, it had been a good 3,000 years in that place. But in this place, he estimated only about 3 years had passed, since Gaara looked about the right age.

He growled in anger, "Which means Konoha is _still_ standing...I was hoping when I climbed out of Tartarus that the place would be nothing but a pile of dust, but it appears I am not so fortunate...but that's fine..." he smirked. "It just means I am going to have the pleasure of burning it to the ground myself!" As he said this, his smirk grew. "And I'll destroy them in the most humiliating way..."

Naruto chuckled as his plan already began to form in his mind. Oh he was going to have _so_ much fun! He could feel it!

Sadly, he was snapped out of his thoughts by Gaara stirring on his back. He quickly propped the red head down, watching him carefully. He didn't know if he was classified as dead or missing, but he wasn't going to be taking any chances. In addition to that, when he'd last seen Gaara, the red head had been rather...viscous. He was of course, nothing compared to Naruto as he was now, but he didn't want to fight Gaara in a desert.

"Nnn..." Gaara groaned lightly as he slowly opened his eyes. "Wh...where...?"

"Good to see that you're alright," Naruto told him.

Gaara slowly turned his head towards the voice, before his eyes widened. "N...Naruto?"

The blonde gave Gaara a smirk. "You didn't forget me, I'm so flattered Gaara."

"A-Akatsuki-"

"Saved you from them," he shrugged like it wasn't that big of a deal. "Since you woke up so fast, it's safe to assume they'd only just started extracting Shukaku from your body. If I showed up any later, you'd have been out a LOT longer."

"B-but how-"

"Did I find you?" Naruto cut off Gaara, who just nodded. "I was trying out a new technique I created, and I ended up right in the cavern where they were extracting Shukaku." This was not a lie. Naruto had indeed been trying out his new technique in order to escape Tartarus. It was pure coincidence that he climbed out where Gaara had been getting extracted by Shukaku.

"I see..." Gaara whispered. "Then...thank you, Naruto. You have saved me...again."

Naruto waved his hand. "Bah, think nothing of it!" He conveniently decided to leave out he let the Akatsuki have just enough chakra from Shukaku to continue their plans.

"No, really...thank you," Gaara gave his first friend a small smile, before it turned into a frown. "Where have you been for the last 3 years? After word got out of Konoha banishing you, we sent out search parties in hopes of recruiting you to Suna, but...well, I imagine you know. We never found you. It was like you'd vanished from the world."

"Not inaccurate," Naruto told Gaara, making the red haired Kage raise an eyebrow. "Oh I'll tell you about it later," he promised. "But for now, how about we get you back to Suna, eh?"

Gaara nodded and shakily began to stand, only to start falling. Naruto caught him. "I'm still too weak to stand..." Gaara muttered. "How disgraceful for a Kage to return to his people in such a state?"

"Kage?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. Gaara nodded and the blonde grinned. "Well congratulations! Knew you had it in ya!" He hoisted Gaara into his back, grinning. "Now come on 'Kazekage-sama'! You gotta pay me back for saving your life, and I think a bowl of ramen should do! I haven't had one in years!"

The Kazekage couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm glad to see you haven't changed..."

"Oh I've changed," Naruto told Gaara, offering him a smile. "But enough of that, let's get you back to Suna," Naruto bowed his head, letting his hood shadow his face as he began to trek back to Suna, all the while Gaara having a small smile on his lips.

It was good to have his brother back.

* * *

Ever since Naruto had been banished from Konoha, things had taken a turn…for worse. Nearly the alliances Konoha had built up had been shattered. The Wave stopped working with them and began a trade agreement with Kiri. The Spring country broke the alliance and went independent, and even Suna had broken their alliance once Gaara became Kazekage.

All Konoha had remaining in terms of alliances was Taki, and even THAT relationship had been shaky recently since the village practically worshiped Naruto for protecting their famous 'Hero's Water.'

Even the Fire Daimyo was furious at their actions and cut their funding, it was starting to be a struggle just to live their everyday life.

Tsunade Senju, the fifth Hokage of Konoha, sighed as she sat at her desk doing paperwork. She was still furious at the Civilian Council for going behind her back and banishing Naruto.

That day she'd had a long, stressful day of work, and was working overtime at the hospital after doing paperwork. By the time she'd gotten back to her office, Naruto was banished and there was nothing she could do about it.

And the years had gotten worse after his banishment. They'd lost all their alliances, except the one they had with Taki. Life had started to become a struggle for the former 'strongest village', all because of the foolish Civilian Council.

When she'd gotten news that Gaara had been kidnapped, she had immediately gathered what remained of Team Seven and sent them to aid Suna and rescue the Kazekage.

She didn't think in any uncertain terms that this would help renew their alliance with Suna, but she hoped that it would be the building blocks to fixing the broken bridge between them.

Truthfully though, Tsunade knew that Konoha was doomed ever since Naruto was banished. What was more distressing was the fact even Jiraya, who arguably had the best spy network in the Elemental Nations, was able to find him.

Naruto had vanished off the face of the Earth. And truthfully…the thought of what he could have been up to terrified her…

* * *

"We are not here to fight you," Kakashi tried to explain to Baki at the entrance of Suna. "We are here to aid you in your search for Kazekage-sama."

"Don't try and convince us to let you in, Konoha scum," Baki said scornfully. "We have the strictest orders from Kazekage-sama to _never_ let any of you in, even if he is absent. And after what you did to the Uzumaki, we have good reason not to!"

Kakashi sighed. Truthfully, he couldn't blame Baki. He too was furious at the civilian council. If he had it his way, Naruto would still be in the village and Sasuke would have been put under heavy lock and key.

But that wasn't how it happened. Naruto was banished, and the civilians made sure all Sasuke got was a tap on the wrist saying 'Don't do it again.'

The civilians were all fools, all the ninja in the village knew it damn well. Even Sasuke himself was furious at what the civilians had done, but he was powerless. Entirely so. The only ninja in the village who didn't object to the civilians was Sakura.

Speaking of the pink haired banshee, she snorted at Baki's words. "And why should anyone care about that loser?" she asked him. "He was nothing compared to Sasuke-ku-"

"Sakura," Sasuke cut in, glaring at the girl. "Shut. Up."

"Anything for you," Sakura squealed out happily as Sasuke spoke to her. Sasuke suppressed a groan.

Ever since he'd recovered, though Tsunade never said it, he'd been monitored by ANBU. He wasn't going to leave anyway, Naruto had shown him that Orochimaru was not the path to defeating his brother. He wasn't even able to thank the blonde before he was sent away.

Since that moment, he'd become a loyal ninja under Tsunade, and swore to do everything in his power to overturn the civilians' decision regarding Naruto, and have him return.

Sasuke turned to Baki. "We are aware our alliance is shaky," he said as calmly as he could. "But we request entrance. Have your SAND watch us if you must, we promise not to cause a ruckus."

"For the last time," Baki snapped. "No means n-"

"Baki-sama," one of the guards said, his eyes narrowing in the distance. "Two people are approaching! A man with a cloak, and he is carrying a person on his back!"

"Akatsuki," Baki snarled. "Prepare our ninja! He may very well have Kazekage-sama, we will retrieve him!"

Kakashi tried to talk. "We are willing to offer our assistance-"

Baki cut in. "Don't bother, we've seen what Konoha does to people who do their missions."

"Yare, yare," a lazy voice said, and they all looked with wide eyes. Standing there was a man in a pitch black cloak and a hood obscuring his face. On his back was none other than Gaara himself, looking awfully amused. "No need to gather your shinobi, I mean you no harm…" he shifted his gaze to the Konoha Shinobi. "Well, none of you _Suna_ Shinobi."

"Release Kazekage-sama," Baki demanded. "And perhaps we will not attack you, Akatsuki scu-"

"Baki," Gaara cut in. "This man is not a member of Akatsuki. In fact, he saved my life. Had he been even a little later, I may not be here alive."

Baki's eyes widened, as did the eyes of the Konoha Shinobi, and he bowed his head. "I apologise, sir. We have been very concerned for Kazekage-sama after his kidnap, and I jumped to the wrong conclusion."

The man waved it off. "Maa, maa, no need to worry about it. Honestly, it was more of a chance I was able to find Gaara. I was testing out a **Jikukan** Jutsu and I ended up where the extraction was taking place."

Kakashi's eyes shot wide. **Jikukan**? Nobody had dabbled in such arts since his Sensei, at least not successfully. For someone like this to be using such techniques…he must be powerful.

"Now then," the cloaked man said, amusement laced in his voice. "May I please take Gaara to a hospital? He is still rather weak, and I think he could use some treatment."

Baki nodded and barked out an order for everyone to make way for the cloaked man.

The man smirked softly under his cloak, his gaze shifting to the Konoha Shinobi. For a brief moment, Sasuke and Kakashi saw under his hood, and what they saw was something they would never forget, even without using their Sharingan.

A pair of burning golden eyes, ablaze with vengeance staring straight at them. "We will meet again, Sharingan No Kakashi, Uchiha Sasuke…" his eyes narrowed at the pink haired girl. "Banshee no Sakura," he said stiffly as he walked into Suna before the girl could respond.

Said girl's eye twitched violently at the name was was given, and she prepared to charge, before Kakashi grabbed her arm. "Do not make things worse," he warned her coldly. "The mission is a failure. We're heading back to Konoha."

As they all turned and began to walk away, Sasuke spared one glance back at the man's retreating form. He had a feeling that man was one who would either be his salvation…or his destruction.

Only time would tell.

* * *

Deep within the black abyss known as Tartarus, a woman sat on a throne, her legs crossed and a hand on her cheek as she sat there, bored.

She had long, flowing hair that split into two colours, brown and pink, with white streaks going through her pink hair. Her eyes flickered to different colours, and they were never the same colour. One was pink, or brown, or white, but the two eyes never shared a colour.

She wore a white jacket with a pink interior, brown pants, and black and white boots with very high heels. Under her jacket was a brown corset, curved in the middle and at the bottom, exposing her hips. She also wore a multitude of necklaces, which hung haphazardly around her neck.

Right now, she was waiting. Waiting patiently for news on her lover's latest experiment. Honestly, she thought he was being crazy with his idea, as what he was attempting had never been done, though she would support him the whole way.

It had been three days since he'd vanished to try his little experiment, and she should be getting news any-

"Lady Neo!" a girl's voice called to her.

Second.

"It's about time," she said. Her voice was small and matched her small stature. It was rather cute, though it held an underlying promise of pain. "And where is my foolish husband?"

"A-about that," the girl stepped into view. She had short black hair, and wore what seemed to be a black Yukata with a white one under it, with a sheathed sword at her hip. Her purple eyes showed shock, fear and…excitement within them.

"Well?" Neo raised an eyebrow. "I am waiting, Rukia. Where is my husband?"

"Th-the experiment was a success, Lady Neo!" Rukia told her finally.

Neo froze, her eyes widening in shock. She sat up properly and uncrossed her legs, staring at Rukia. "…Pardon?"

Rukia took a deep breath as she repeated herself. "Lord Naruto's Jutsu worked, Lady Neo! He has escaped Tartarus!"

The ice cream themed woman stared at Rukia in shock, before her shock expression slowly twisted into a savage smirk. "I see…Rukia, prepare our armies! We finally have a way out of this pit, and it is time that my husband's world know what we are capable of!"

"At once, your highness!" the girl turned and ran from the room to follow her Lady's orders.

Uzumaki Neopolitan laughed as she stood, the sound echoing throughout the throne room. "It seems you were right, Naruto! You really are the most unpredictable shinobi in the pit and out of it!"

She grinned savagely, her dual coloured eyes flickering wildly. "And soon, all worlds shall bow to us! Nobody shall stop us in our quest…" her smirk turned cruel as her body glowed with a pale pink light.

 **"Nobody."**


	2. II: Building a Kingdom

**AN: For disclaimers and warnings, read the first chapter. Current harem has not changed at this time, nor have the current crossovers. Feel free to suggest possible crossovers and harem members to be added.**

 **Please note, a Harem member will NOT be a genderbent male, they must be female, or genderless so I can then make them female. A harem member does not need to be from any specific universe, if you can give me a character and a good reason why they can be in the story, I will consider them as a harem member.**

* * *

 _By the second hour after my return with Sasuke, I was walking out of the village with only a backpack full of scrolls that I'd sealed all my things into, and the clothes I was wearing._

 _I was still feeling numb. Banished? Just like that? I'd given so much for this village, done so much to protect it and help it prosper…and this is how I was repaid?_

'Well fuck them!' _I thought to myself angrily as I marched out of the village, heading into the forest._

 _I'd find my own path in life! I'd become so powerful and awesome that there's no way they wouldn't want me back! I'd make damn sure of it!_

 _I guess it was these thoughts that motivated me to walk so much. It was only half way through my thoughts I realised I had nowhere to go, or stay. I ran through a list of places I could go to._

 _"Maybe Suna…" I mused, before shaking my head. "No, they are allied with Konoha, they'd just turn me in…maybe Taki? No, same issue…the Spring Country? …Too far…" I hummed in thought, before snapping my fingers._

 _"I got it," I declared happily. "I'll head to the wave! They treat me like I'm a hero there, and I DID promise Inari I'd visit him! That settles i-"_

 _Before I could finish the words, I felt a shift in the air and looked around for an enemy. I didn't know why, my instincts reacted in place of thoughts. I was too late to think…that I should look down._

 _Suddenly, I felt like I was sinking. Panicked, I looked down and my eyes widened as I seemed to be falling into some black pit. I did my best to try and claw my way out, but I couldn't I just kept sinking…_

 _And sinking…_

 _And sinking…_

 _And before I knew it…all I could see was darkness. Not just the darkness of the pit I was now trapped in._

 _But the darkness I'd been locking away in the depths of my broken heart._

* * *

 **II: Building a Kingdom**

Naruto hummed as he sat outside of Gaara's room, waiting for the doctors to tell him that Gaara was well enough for visitors. Well, it wasn't like they could stop him if he wanted to see Gaara, he was Uzumaki Naruto for a reason. Saying no to him was something you should never do.

Unless you were a girl he was asking for sex. He might have been crazy, but he wasn't a rapist…well, at least not that he remembered. Man, Neo really knew what kind of liquor could get him dru-

"Ah fuck," Naruto groaned. "I knew I was forgetting something…"

His wife was going to be so pissed off at him…he knew that he was meant to bring her here immediately once he was sure his jutsu was a success.

Eh, he'd bring her tomorrow, she'd only have to wait…2 years and 8 months? He did some quick math in his head, before deciding he was close enough and moved on.

Speaking of which, he'd have to find a nice abandoned area for his clones to build a village- no, a kingdom- for his army to live. If he made a few million clones, it would be done by the time it was time for him to sleep, though the backlash would be a huge bitch.

"Excuse me?" Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts by a nurse, who was looking down at him. "Kazekage-sama is fine, you may see him now."

Naruto nodded and stood. "Shouldn't you tell his brother and sister?"

The nurse frowned. "Another nurse has gone to see Temari-sama, but…it is unlikely Kankuro-sama will survive, he has been poisoned."

The blonde raised an eyebrow as a clone formed into existence. "Take the clone with you, it will deal with Kankuro's poison."

The nurse blinked in surprise and hesitated before she slowly nodded and led the clone away. Naruto chuckled lightly as he stepped into Gaara's hospital room.

The youngest Kage in the Elemental Nations raised an eyebrow as Naruto entered. "Something funny, Naruto?"

A smirk was his answer as Naruto waved it off. "Nothing at all, Gaara. Just thinking is all."

"Don't hurt yourself," Gaara mocked, smirking at his friend.

"Low blow," Naruto pouted as he took a seat next to Gaara's bed. "That was three tho- I mean, three years ago, I've changed."

Shukaku's Jinchuuriki narrowed his eyes at Naruto. "Where have you been all this time, Naruto?" he asked. "And don't lie, you know I'll be able to see if you are."

Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Would you believe me if I said in hell?"

"Literally or metaphorically?"

"Literally."

"Then no."

The blonde let out a mirthless chuckle, "I'm afraid that is exactly where I've been." He took a breath as he began his story, "Not long after being banished from Konoha, I suddenly found myself being dragged into some kind of pit. I did my best to claw out, but it already had a hold of me. And before I realised it, I was in darkness, and all I could think about were the darkest times of my life. By the time my eyes had adjusted to the light, I'd wallowed in misery for what felt like a thousand years."

Gaara gulped lightly. Was he serious? "And then what?"

Naruto just smirked at him. "Someone found me. At first, I thought they'd kill me, but they decided I wasn't worth killing, and was kind enough to explain how things worked in hell. I was down there for three thousand years, though it seems there is a temporal gap. About 2 years and eight months down there is a full day up here."

The Kazekage's eyes shot open. "What?! Why aren't you dead? The time you've been gone is…"

The Jinchuuriki of nine smirked. "Anyone who is dragged into Tartarus, the pit I resided in, is granted a…form of immortality. We can die in battle, but we only age to the prime of our life, and then our bodies stop aging. This is so we can suffer for all eternity in the pit. Escape is meant to be impossible."

"But you got out," Gaara mentioned.

Naruto gave Gaara a fanged smirk, his golden eyes shining with amusement. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. _Nothing_ is impossible for me. It took a thousand years, but I finally was able to develop a **Jikukan** jutsu that allowed me to escape. The exit point just happened to be the cave Akatsuki was extracting Shukaku from. Though my wife is going to be so mad at me…"

"Your wife!?" Gaara yelled out, startled. "You…you're married!?"

The blonde laughed out. Gaara's reaction was so worth using it as an afterthought. "Yep! Been married for one-thousand, three-hundred and twenty-six years! Speaking of which, she's going to be so mad since I'm going to miss our next two anniversaries…"

"You… _you_ are married?" Gaara muttered, as if he couldn't believe it. He respected and admired Naruto, but his eyes just couldn't make the link between the blonde knucklehead and the idea of marriage.

"It isn't _that_ surprising…" Naruto mumbled grumpily. "Yes Gaara, I am married."

"Congratulations," the Kazekage finally said after he'd had a minute to collect himself, even if he felt like pouting. Naruto was married while he'd yet to even kiss a girl.

Naruto chuckled lightly and slowly stood up. "As much as I'd love to stay, Gaara, I have things to do today," he told his brother in all but blood.

Gaara sighed, but he'd expected this. "Are you sure you can't stay longer?"

Naruto shook his head. "I cannot, I have important things I must do. But…" he tossed Gaara a three pronged kunai with a seal engraved onto the handle. "If you need me, just stab that kunai. And don't bother trying the decode the seal. You won't succeed."

The red haired male nodded, not that he would try. He would not betray Naruto's trust. He offered his hand. "Remember, you shall always have a home with Sunagakure."

His response was a grin as Naruto shook his hand. "I'll remember, Gaara," he pulled his hand away and vanished in a flash of silver.

Gaara shook his head, and amused smirk on his lips. "Always a thing for the dramatics…you changed less than I thought…brother…"

* * *

There was a flash of silver as Uzumaki Naruto appeared in the middle of a forest. "Hm…" he ran up the tallest tree he could find and grinned. Yes, this would do perfectly, it was a very large forest that would give way to create his new kingdom.

He crossed his fingers with a smirk, his golden eyes glowing. **_"Tajuu Kage Bushin No Jutsu!"_**

The forest became a sea of blonde hair and golden eyes. Millions of Naruto stood in the forest, bearing the same smirk as their creator.

"You know what to do!" the original barked out, and all the clones responded with a loud 'HAI!' before they set to work tearing down the forest. Naruto closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

When he woke up, he would have his Kingdom.

* * *

The next morning, golden eyes opened and Naruto immediately knew something was wrong. But what was it?

He checked his hands. No, they were there. His legs? They were there too. His head? Well obviously, he'd be dead otherwise! So just why was everything so…?

At once, Naruto sat up, understanding why as he looked down. His clones had put him in a bed. _A bed!_ He hadn't slept in a bed for 3000 years, since Tartarus didn't exactly just hand those out. You slept on whatever you could find.

He sighed contently as he eased into the sheets. It felt _good_ to be in a bed again, to feel how soft and comfortable it was.

And all at once, it really hit Naruto. He was out. He was _out_ of Tartarus. Free of his prison, his hell.

With a grin on his lips, he jumped out of bed and walked to the window, opening it. His eyes widened and he gasped as he took in the view of the Kingdom… _his_ Kingdom.

The clones were making the finishing touches, but it was gorgeous. Thousands of houses for all the residents of his army, and even more so that they could hold more people. Half the houses would fill his army, and the other half could be for civilians.

The Kingdom truly held everything he could have thought of. An armoury, supermarkets, and he assumed they were full of things already. Restaurants, gaming stores, weapon stores…

It was perfect.

After he'd truly absorbed the breathtaking sight, he yelled out. "Once you are done with your work, dispel! I'll deal with the backlash!"

At once, he was on his knees holding his head as he received the memories of over a million clones that had been up for hours. He grit his teeth as he fought through the pain. He really _should_ have known better. His wife told him not to overuse the clones, but he never listened.

It took him 20 minutes before he could finally stand up…only to immediately fall to his knees as the rest of the clones finished dispelling. _'Assholes!'_ he cursed as he was once more bombarded by memories.

He really should have known better than to trust his clones. They were assholes, just like their creator. He grit his teeth as he worked through the collective memories for a full hour before he could finally stand up, taking deep breaths.

"Bastards," he grunted, staring at the entrance to the kingdom. He smirked and made a few hand seals. It was time for his army to come. He finished on the Rat Seal. **_"Jikukan: Jigoku No Dasshutsu!"_**

* * *

Two years and seven months. That's how long Uzumaki Neopolitan waited for her husband to open a portal to the surface world.

Her eye twitched in annoyance, as did her hands. "That bastard!" she snarled angrily, the army flinching as they stood before her, as did all the civilians who would be going with them.. "He forgot to open a portal for us!"

Of course, Neo had no idea of the time difference between the worlds, so she believed that Naruto had simply left them all behind without a care in the world.

"Oh when we get out of here, I am going to give him a stern talking to-"

"My lady!" Rukia spoke up, pointing. Everyone's eyes followed her finger, before they widened at the sight of a huge black portal spiraling into existence before their very eyes.

Neo's jaw dropped for a moment, before she smirked widely. "Ladies and gentleman!" Neo yelled out. "We have resided here for too long! Now we walk! To freedom!"

"To freedom!" the army and civilians cheered. Neo grinned widely as he walked through the portal, her army following behind her.

The first thing Neo noticed was that they were no longer in darkness, there was light everywhere, and it was honestly a little startling for her, she had to strain her eyes and make them adjust.

When they adjusted, she gasped as she noticed they were standing in an absolutely huge kingdom. It was ridiculously massive, enough room for the army, and civilians, and then some.

The final thing she noticed was the sun-kissed blonde hair standing on the balcony of the castle in the middle of the kingdom, along with the huge tree that spiraled up behind it as if it were a guardian.

Uzumaki Naruto spread his arms. "Welcome to the Elemental Nations!" he roared out, his eyes glowing with twisted thoughts and dark intentions. Neo shivered in delight. "Welcome…to our revenge!"

The army cheered loudly, along with the Civilians as tears cascaded down their cheeks. They were free of Tartarus, they were finally free…

And now it was time for them to have their vengeance on the worlds for abandoning them to that hell. This they swore.

The ice cream themed girl walked towards the castle as Naruto jumped down. She punched Naruto in the stomach as he walked to her. "That was for nearly taking 3 years to bring us here," she told him.

Naruto grunted from the hit before smirking. "About that Neo…it appears that we something of a time distortion between Tartarus and this world…" his smirk became sinister, and Neo shivered in delight once more. "One I believe we can abuse…"

* * *

"So the mission was a failure?" Tsunade asked as she saw Team Kakashi enter the room. Kakashi held no emotions on his face, Sasuke had a frown, while Sakura looked furious.

"Failure might not be the right word," Kakashi told Tsunade.

It was Tsunade's turn to frown, "Explain."

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "Well…we got to Suna just fine, and we were having some trouble trying to convince Baki to let us into the village so we could help, but then…well, some man in a cloak came over, carrying Gaara on his back."

Tsunade's eyes widened. "Pardon? Did you just say that a random man walked to Suna holding Gaara? He somehow took Gaara from the Akatsuki's clutches?" It was incredible that it could happen, to say the least.

Kakashi nodded. "I believe so, yes. But what was more surprising was that Gaara seemed very familiar with the man. They seemed like family."

Instantly, hope ignited in Tsunade's heart. Could it be…? "What did the man look like?"

"We couldn't get a good look at his face," Sasuke spoke up. "it was like the cloak was obscuring his face from the darkness, and I never looked with my Sharingan because I didn't want to seem hostile. But I could see a pair of golden eyes under his cloak."

"I see…" the Hokage forced herself to quell the disappointment she felt. She was hoping that the man could have been Naruto. "And how did he act? Did he speak at all?"

"He was an asshole!" Sakura screamed. "He called me-"

"Sakura," Sasuke cut in. "Shut. Up," he ordered, glaring at her with his Sharingan.

Instantly, the pinkette flinched back and nodded, afraid of angering Sasuke any further. She didn't know why, but Sasuke was very hostile towards her. Of course, she blamed Naruto, but he'd been gone for three years and his attitude had not ceased…

Sasuke turned back to Tsunade, his Sharingan turning off. "He acted similar to how Kakashi does when he's late. He was very nonchalant about his arrival, and calmly told everyone to be calm. He glared at Kakashi, Sakura, and myself and I could…almost _taste_ the hatred he had for the three of us…like he had some personal grudge to be held…"

Tsunade nodded slowly, filing away this information in her mind. "Any news on his abilities? At all?"

"He claimed to be proficient in **Jikukan** Ninjutsu, saying he was experimenting with one and that was how he stumbled onto the place Gaara was being held captive," Kakashi informed Tsunade slowly. "It could have just been him boasting, but considering that we are certain Gaara was taken by Akatsuki, the chances of him being a liar are unlikely. We know he must be skilled if he could take Gaara back."

The blonde Hokage leaned back as she considered Kakashi's words. If this was the case, there was a man out there who was at a great level in **Jikukan** Ninjutsu. Along with that, he seemed to hold a vendetta against Team Kakashi…or possibly Konoha as a whole.

She thought it might be Naruto, but she quickly wrote it off as Naruto's eyes were blue, and when he was angry they should have turned red just like the Kyuubi's.

"One last thing," Tsunade said finally. "Did any of you spot… _him_?"

Kakashi sighed and shook his head.

She nodded, as if she'd expected it. "Very well, you are dismissed…"

The three nodded and walked out of the room as Tsunade looked over a scroll Jiraya had given her not long ago. It held only one line, but it spoke volumes.

 _'Orochimaru has been sighted moving towards Tenchi Bridge.'_

* * *

"How!?" a man in an orange spiral mask yelled out in anger as he looked over the cave the extraction of the Shukaku had been taking place, furious. Watching him was the fly trap Akatsuki member, Zetsu.

"I spend years searching for him," he growled, his voice livid. "And he suddenly pops out with such power!? It is inconceivable! I knew I should have killed him the instant I realised Minato's intentions to seal the Kyuubi into the boy!"

 **"And yet you did not,"** Black Zetsu spoke up. **"And now we have a Jinchuuriki that shall be just as hard to catch as the Hachibi."**

"What are we gonna do?" White Zetsu asked the masked man, curiosity lacing his voice.

The masked man took a deep breath, his Sharingan spinning furiously from the only hole in his mask. "We shall have to make due. Suna shall be prepared for another attack, and we cannot risk so many of our members. The amount from the Shukaku should be enough for the Juubi's revival, since the eye is open."

Black Zetsu frowned slightly. **"Yes…another question, just how did the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki find out about the Juubi? There is almost no recorded history of it, and it learn of it one must read the Uchiha's stone in their secret underground meeting place. And they must have the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, which the boy cannot have."**

"if I knew, we wouldn't be having this conversation," the masked man snorted. "We shall proceed with the plan as normal, and keep your ears and eyes out for the Sanbi, it should be revived by the time we have grabbed the Nibi Jinchuuriki."

 **"U** n **d** e **r** s **t** o **o** d, **"** Zetsu nodded as a whole as he sunk into the ground.

"Nobody shall stop peace," the masked man growled, his Sharingan morphing into its Mangekyo state. " _Nobody_."

* * *

 _Slowly, after what felt like a millennia of wallowing in my misery, I could feel my eyes adjust to the darkness. The first thing I noticed was that I wasn't dead at least, I could feel my heart beating and the chakra coursing through my veins._

 _What I did notice, make me throw up. I was standing on rocky terrain, covered with blood and bodies everywhere I look. Organs, limbs, eyes, tongues, everything imaginable._

 _It was a massacre._

 _Luckily for me at least, it seemed to have been a long time since the massacre. The blood was dried, and the organs were shriveled up. The eyes were dried out, and the tongues were a pale colour._

 _Taking a deep breath as I settled my stomach, I looked around to be sure that I was the only one here._

 _Once I confirmed I was, I clutched my stomach and grabbed my bag as I quickly fled the scene. I'd never felt so physically ill before, except for the time I'd drunk that off milk a few days after I kicked Mizuki's ass._

 _Mizuki…that was someone I hadn't thought of in a long time. I hated him, but at the same time I was grateful. Without him, I wouldn't have ever become a Shinobi. In my own, weird way, I guess I owed my career to him._

 _I was so lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice someone walk up to me and hold their sword to my stomach until it punctured my clothing._

 _I froze, and quickly looked at my attacker. Imagine my surprise when I saw it was a girl that was about 2 inches taller than me, however that was likely due to her heels. Without them, she might have been the same height as me._

 _Her appearance was strange. She had hair that was half pink, have brown, with white streaks on the pink side. Her eyes changed every time she blinked, sometimes brown, sometimes pink, and sometimes white. Though no two eyes were the same colour._

 _She had an incredibly cold look on her face as she held her sword to my stomach, and in her other hand was…the rest of an umbrella? It took me a second to see the handle of her weapon was that of the umbrella. Did she store her sword in the parasol?_

 _"W-wait," I manged to find my voice. "D-do you know where we are?" I asked her._

 _Her eyes seemed to widen in surprise. She opened her mouth to speak before she closed it and let out a silent sigh in annoyance. She carved words into the ground, which I read as 'Are you new here?'_

 _"Y-yeah," I nodded an affirmative."Where are we?"_

 _She swiped her boot through the ground and carved the word, 'Tartarus.'_

 _I mouthed the word. "Tartarus? What's that?"_

 _She frowned and seemed to think for a moment before she carved the word, 'Hell.'_

 _Immediately, my eyes shot open. I was in hell. Literally. That was just great, out of a metaphorical hell and into a literal one. Just perfect._

 _"How long have you been here?" I asked her eventually. She looked rather young._

 _She carved into the ground once more, giving me an annoyed look. 'Long time, lost track. All are immortal here. Can die in fight, but only age to prime.'_

 _I felt my throat go dry as I read her words. Immortal? I was immortal? I'd age to my prime and just stop aging? How long as I going to be here? What had I done to deserve this?_

 _She noticed my panicking state and began to walk away, clearly having lost interest. I looked up and called. "W-wait!"_

 _Once more, she gave me an annoyed look, gesturing for me to continue. "C…could we travel together? Just for awhile, so I can get used to how this place works."_

 _There was a moment of consideration before she shrugged and nodded, turning away. I quickly ran to catch up with her, not wanting to be left behind._

 _"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," I told her, and she looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "I thought if we're going to travel you might as well know my name. What's yours?"_

 _She rolled her eyes in irritation as she carved a single name into the dirt._

 _'Neo.'_

 _I smiled lightly as I continued to walk with Neo, no longer talking as silence overcame us. She seemed content with that as she continued to walk, slipping her sword into her parasol and twirling it._

 _At least I wasn't going to be stuck in this hell alone._

* * *

 **Jutsu:**

 **Name: Jikukan: Jigoku No Dasshutsu (Space-Time: Escape from Hell)**

 **Rank: S**

 **Description: A transportation technique that only works with various underworlds, or places containing a great amount of negative emotion. It creates a portal from the user's location to the chosen location. Usually used from within the area to another place, but can also be used from a clean area to an underworld or a place of great negativity.**

 **Users: Uzumaki Naruto**


	3. III: Pathway To The Crossroads

**AN: For warnings and disclaimer, and current crossovers, please refer to the first chapter**

 **Harem has been updated. Current Harem: Neopolitan (Main), Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, Rukia Kuchiki Fem!Ulquiorra, Tia Halibel, Lady, Trish, Thalia Grace (New Member), Athena (New Member), Cinder Fall (New Member)**

* * *

 _I'd been traveling through Tartarus with Neo for a few days, but I'd already learned a good amount about how she thought and how she acted._

 _She was a really playful person who enjoyed teasing me or making me flush, she found it as a great source of amusement. She could even be very playful in a fight, but she had a poor habit of toying with her enemy instead of just finishing the job straight away._

 _She also seemed to grow rather comfortable around me rather quickly, though that was probably because she knew she was stronger than me. She and I both knew it, even if I didn't want to admit it._

 _She also liked to mess with my mind using Genjutsu. Every so often I'd wake up and I'd find myself surrounded by wild, rabid bears and freak out, only to see Neo giggling to the side and realise it was an illusion. I couldn't even break her Genjutsu the way we were taught in the Academy, which was just a testament to how strong she was._

 _There was one more strange thing I noticed about her. Sometimes she'd open her mouth to say something, before she closed it and chose to carve words into the sand. With all her silence, I assumed she was a mute, but sometimes I'd hear her mutter something under her breath, even if I couldn't hear it clearly. Did it mean she only spoke around people she trusted?_

 _I yawned as I woke up one morning on the seventh day of us traveling together. I slowly looked up only to see Neo's dual coloured eyes staring down at me. "GAH!" I yelled out as I suddenly sat up in surprise._

 _I slowly turned and glared at the sight of the ice cream girl silently giggling at my reaction. "It wasn't funny," I insisted to her, and she just gave me a smirk that screamed 'Yes it was.' I glared at her twice at hard for that, but she just continued her silent laughter._

 _I let out a sigh as I slowly stood up, rotating my shoulders. "What's for breakfast this time?" I asked. If anything, Tartarus didn't lack any animals to hunt for, they were just incredibly hard to kill since about 99% of them had aged to their prime and just grown stronger with time._

 _She offered me a shrug, and pointed towards the forest. "So in other words, you're making me hunt for it again?" I said with a deadpan expression on my face. Ever since I mentioned I was a Shinobi, she'd decided I do all the hunting and cooking for us. I wasn't too mad, it helped me train up my stealth even further, and let me practice my cooking._

 _When she gave me a grin and a nod, all I did was sigh as I did a few stretches. "I'll be back in like, 10 minutes to a half hour," I drawled out. "And once more, please do not touch my things," before she could respond, I headed into the forest._

 _It took me a little while, but I was able to find a few rabbits. I felt kind of bad because rabbits are really cute, but Neo and I needed to survive with a with a small amount of reluctance on my part, I threw my 6 kunai for all six rabbits. They all squeal for a minute in pain, before they fell toe the ground dead. "That should cover breakfast and dinner for 3 days…" I mumbled as I carried them back to the area Neo was waiting for me at._

 _When I arrived, I called out to her, "Yo, Ne-" I suddenly froze, my face growing pale as I saw what she held in her hand. She was holding my journal. In that journal was_ every _detail about my life in Konoha. Everything._

 _She looked up to me, surprise in her eyes at me being back so soon. She raised the book and pointed to it, her eyes demanding an explanation._

 _Fear overtook me. I couldn't tell her…I couldn't bear to be looked at with those eyes again. Before I knew it, I'd dropped the six rabbits and snatched my journal away from her, stuffing it in my bag as I picked it up and ran from her._

 _I couldn't tell if she was chasing me or not, she was as good at stealth, if not better at it than I was. All I could do was run, the idea of being feared or hated like that once again…it shook me to my core._

 _I must have ran for a full hour before I stopped, looking around. There was no sign of Neo. I sighed in relief and began walking, even if I felt bad that I'd left her behind. She'd been kind enough (sort of) to teach me how things worked in the pit, and I was grateful. But the idea of her looking at me with eyes of fear and hate…_

 _I heard a yelp of surprise as pressure as I accidentally knocked someone over. I winced and broke out of my thoughts, quickly offering my hand. "I'm so sorry," I muttered as I looked to the person I knocked down, and before I knew it I was blushing._

 _Pale skin. Long, wavering black hair. Beautiful but predatory amber eyes. On top of her head was a little bow that seemed to twitch for a second. "It's fine," the girl said, taking my hand and letting me help her up._

 _"S-sorry," I stuttered out. "I was lost in my thoughts and wasn't looking just where I was going. I apologise," I bowed my head._

 _To my surprise, the girl tilted my head up and gave me a soft smile. "You are a very polite boy," she said. She didn't look very old, but then I remembered about the immortality the pit granted. "Don't worry, I'm not injured. I don't have a single scrap or bruise, so no harm done."_

 _"Thanks…" I mumbled, and she turned and began to leave. "W-wait!" I called out._

 _She stopped and looked back, raising an eyebrow. "Yes?"_

 _"I…if it isn't too much trouble, do you think we could travel together?" I asked, making her eyes widen in surprise. "I won't slow you down or anything, I just…I was with my friend until now and she and I had an…argument that made me run away. I don't want to be alone, so if it isn't too much trouble do you think we could travel together? Just until she and I can make up…"_

 _The woman hummed in thought, tilting her head as she thought about it before she nodded. "I don't have a problem with that, just please make sure you can carry your own weight, okay?"_

 _I nodded and walked to her offering my hand. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto," I told her._

 _She raised an eyebrow as she shook my hand. "Your name is Uzumaki? What a strange thing to name a child."_

 _Confusion overtook me. "Uzumaki is my family name, Naruto is my given name. Where I come from, it's common to use your family name first."_

 _"Ah," she nodded. "That clears it up. It is nice to meet you, Naruto. I'm Blake Belladonna, Blake being my given name. I look forward to traveling with you."_

 _Had either of us been paying attention, we might have heard the shocked gasp from somewhere behind us._

* * *

 **III: Pathway To The Crossroads**

Naruto sat in the middle of the Dojo area that resided within the castle. He currently only wore a pair of black pants, and sat cross legged on the floor, in a meditative pose.

He slowly sucked in a deep breath, holding it inside of himself for a moment, before he gently exhaled. He'd been doing this for nearly an hour or so, but honestly he loved meditation very much. It was incredibly relaxing for someone like him, he usually had a lot of pent up aggression.

"So this is where you were," a cool voice came from behind him.

Cracking open one of his golden eyes open, Naruto just smirked without turning around. "I'm not surprised you were the first to find me," he said, amusement lacing his voice. "You always did have a sort of sixth sense to where I was."

"You know what kind of people I had to be on a team with," she told him. "Is it really any surprise I have a 'sort of sixth sense' for knowing where troublemakers like you are?"

Naruto barked out a laugh as he stood up, turning around and giving the girl a smirk. "You make it sound like _you_ didn't cause your fair amount of trouble over the years, Blake."

Blake Belladonna just smiled at him, her bow twitching slightly as she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you," she told him. "I honestly never thought we'd never escape that pit…you gave us our freedom…and nothing means more to me more than that."

He smiled lightly. "You don't need to thank me, I also wanted to get out of that pit, Blake. I'm just glad that we could finally escape and get our revenge on the worlds that shunned us…"

She gently rested her head on his chest. "So, what crazy thing do you have planned next?" she asked him, and he could feel her smirk. "And don't act like you have nothing planned or it isn't crazy. I'm not stupid, and you know it."

"True enough," he muttered. "I sent some clones to scout through the nations, and one of them discovered Orochimaru- you know, the Snake Pedo- is headed towards Tenchi Bridge to kill one of the Akatsuki members, who is meeting with one of his contacts that he has spying on Orochimaru."

"So two birds?" Blake pulled away. "And are you planning to go alone?"

"No," he told her. "I have no doubt I can kill them both, but I know Orochimaru, and he is a snake through and through. I will NOT risk him slithering out of my grasp. I was thinking perhaps I'd bring Percy and Thalia along."

"Water boy and Zappy?" Blake sounded surprised, using the nicknames Naruto had given the two when he'd met Percy and Thalia down in the pit.

Naruto smirked and nodded. "Yep, Water boy and Zappy. The two might not get along, but when they work together in battle, the two are forces of destruction. With Percy's near god-like control over water he's obtained over the years, and Thalia's masterful skill using lightning that her father would be jealous of, the two are a vicious team."

Blake hummed before she nodded slowly. "Do you mind if I tag along? I want to experience all the nature in this world, plus I could use a good fight. It gets terribly boring fighting the same people over and over."

"Sounds good," he told her as he headed to the exit of the Dojo. "Do me a favour and inform Thalia and Percy of what we're doing. We'll be leaving for the Tenchi Bridge in two days."

* * *

"Should I act…" Tsunade muttered as she continued to read the one line Jiraya had put in the scroll. Orochimaru, it seemed, was on the move after 3 years.

"Perhaps Kakashi's team…" she mumbled before shaking her head. "No, I shouldn't send Sasuke…he is who Orochimaru is after…a group of ANBU?"

Frowning, she shook her head. "No…I need them for missions…I'll just have to risk sending Team Kakashi…I'll have Tenzo accompany them though, one ANBU shouldn't hurt my resources…"

"If I may?" a voice said as a man entered the room, and Tsunade's eyes narrowed her eyes. "I believe I have…someone who can aid your team."

"One of your ROOT, you mean?" she said offhandedly. Danzo didn't respond. "Fine…but understand he WILL be monitored, am I clear, Danzo?"

"Of course, Princess Tsunade," the **Yami No Shinobi** said as he turned and left the room, no emotions visible on his face.

Tsunade sighed. "Cat," she spoke up, an ANBU with the mask appearing in front of her. "Fetch me Team Kakashi and Boar. Tell them to have a mission. Also inform Boar he shall be acting as a Jonin under the name 'Yamato.'"

"Hai, Hokage-Sama," the ANBU said as she vanished.

Tsunade slowly pulled out a bottle of Sake from her bottom drawer. She needed a drink right now.

* * *

Sasuke took a a breath as he went through his kata at Team Seven's training grounds. He enjoyed the peace and quiet that was no Sakura, Kakashi, or Naruto. Honestly though, he missed Naruto. He was the Uchiha's best friend, and he tried to kill him…and came damn close too. Sasuke shuddered at the thought he could have killed Naruto.

Granted, he supposed that banishment wasn't much better than death when it came to Naruto.

Letting out a sigh, he finished running through his kata and was about to begin practicing his Jutsu, when he heard a certain banshee scream for him. "Sasuke-kun!"

His eye twitched as he slowly turned to her, doing his best to maintain a neutral face. Needless to say, he was glaring at her rather heavily. " _What_ do you want?"

"I came here to tell you that Tsunade-sama has a mission for us," she told him, before blushing. "And um…I was hoping you'd go on a date wi-"

"No," Sasuke shot her down before she could finish.

She growled. "Is it because of Naruto-baka!?"

The Last Uchiha looked at her for a few seconds before laughing. "D-do you really think this is Naruto's fault? You _really_ think I keep rejecting you because of Naruto?"

"Yes! There's no other explanation," Sakura growled out angrily.

Sasuke stopped laughing and gave her a cold look. "Naruto has nothing to do with it. The reason I keep rejecting you, Sakura, is because you are an awful excuse for a human being!"

All at once, Sakura felt as if her world was crumbling around her. "W-wha-"

"You heard me!" he snapped. "Since day one, you have shown that you are a horrible person! Just look at Naruto for how you really are! He did his mission, and he _saved_ me! What did you do though!? You attacked him and broke his heart!"

"B-but why does he-" Sakura tried, but Sasuke was on a roll now.

"Because he _loved_ you Sakura!" he snapped, his Sharingan blazing into existence as Sakura gasped. "Naruto loved you with all his heart and soul! And you took his love and crushed it to pieces because he followed the mission parameters!"

The pinkette took a step back. "Naruto…loved me…?" she spoke as if she couldn't believe it. A crush, yes she knew that. But _love_?

"That's right," Sasuke growled. "And you crushed his heart. I was still barely conscious, and you showed me what a _real_ monster was like that day. So understand this, Haruno Sakura. I will _never_ , in a million years, go out with you. The most that _you_ will be to me is a friend, and currently you are just someone I have I have the displeasure of working with. And with your current attitude…"

He walked past her and whispered just loud enough for her to hear as tears cascaded down her cheeks. "That is all you will _ever_ be…"

As he glanced back, his Sharingan would forever engrave the sight of his teammate collapsing onto the ground and crying her eyes out into his memory.

He looked away, his cursed eyes returning to being black as he headed towards the Hokage Tower to find out just _what_ the mission was.

He had a horrible feeling about the mission…and considering his run of luck with missions, he had a had good reason to believe this mission wouldn't go according to plan.

* * *

Sea green eyes burrowed into the lake in front of him, strained disbelief visible in them. Sitting by the lake was a boy with short black hair and a tanned complexion that had paled over time. He was dressed in an orange shirt, a black jacket, and blue jeans. He slowly turned over a pen in his hands as he stared at the lake.

"I can't believe I'm out…" he whispered softly. "I honestly didn't think we'd ever escape..but I'm out. The air…the smell of the water…" He inhaled slowly and exhaled, smiling. "Freedom…"

"Yes, none of us can really believe it," Blake's voice came from behind. Glancing back, he saw the small smile on the girl's lips. "Surprising, is it not?"

The teen merely nodded as he shifted his gaze back to the lake. "It's not often you come and find me, Blake," he said. "Any reason why you're here?"

"Naruto will be taking you, myself, and Thalia on a mission to the Tenchi Bridge in two days," she told him.

The teen raised an eyebrow. "A mission already? I suppose there's no rest for the wicked…why are we headed to this 'Tenchi Bridge?'"

"We'll be confronting the 'Snake Pedo,'" she quoted Naruto, and the boy visibly shivered. Naruto _really_ described Orochimaru in a creepy way. "It should give you some time to get ready."

"Right," he stood up, looking over the water. "Anything else I should know?"

"Nothing comes to mind," Blake told him. She turned around and walked away. "I'll see you in two days, Percy."

Perseus Orion Jackson nodded as he began to walk into the water. "See you around, Blake," he said as he submerged into the water, a smile on his lips as he did so.

He couldn't wait.

* * *

A bolt of lightning struck a tree, igniting it in fire as the wood turned black from the intense heat. Standing nearby the tree was a girl.

The girl had spiky black hair and a black leather jacket. She wore a silver circlet on her head like a princess's tiara, which didn't match her skull earrings or her Death to Barbie T-shirt showing a little Barbie doll with an arrow through its head. Her eyes were a stunning electric blue in colour, and her skin was pale.

"Tch," she growled out. "That was way too weak! I've been getting sloppy…I used to be able to summon lightning far easier than I can now…" she sighed in annoyance as she sat down by the burning tree, glaring daggers at it. She was going to have to step up her training if she wanted to use her lightning more effectively.

"Having troubles, Thalia?" Blake's voice came from behind.

Glancing back, Thalia breathed out through her nose. "Just a few…any reason you're here right now, Blake?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," the girl nodded, gently running a hand through her long black hair. "You, myself, Percy, and Naruto have a mission to the Tenchi Bridge in two days to deal with Orochimaru."

Instantly, Thalia grew serious. She'd heard of the Sannin from Naruto, and knew they were no joke. "Surely Naruto could do it alone?" she asked.

"He could," Blake agreed. "But he doesn't want to risk Orochimaru slipping away this time. He wants that man out of the equation, and he could be a problem if we don't take care of him now."

Thalia gently bit her lip and she thought about it. On the one hand, Orochimaru was very skilled. On the other hand, it was for Naruto, and she definitely owed him… "I'll be waiting at the Kingdom's gates in two days," she told Blake.

The girl nodded, turning around. "I suggest you try asking Naruto to get some clones to steal some scrolls from Kumo and see if you can get some **Raiton** Jutsu."

With that said, Blake sunk into her shadow and vanished. Thalia turned back to the burning tree and glared, determination in her electric blue eyes.

In two days, she would be ready.

* * *

"Today, we shall be discussing Uzumaki Naruto, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki," a voice boomed throughout a cavern. Standing on 9 of 10 fingers were the Akatsuki. "We have had you all on the lookout for him for nearly 3 years, and yet we have no sighted him. And somehow, he has gained enough power to stop us sealing the Shukaku. This cannot stand."

"Yeah, 'un," Deidara spoke up. "He did some creepy flash of silver and none of us were able to move until he was gone with the Jinchuuriki, 'un."

"We must learn more about the Jinchuuriki," the man with ringed eyes repeated. "Sasori, have your spies keep a lookout for him from now on."

"Understood, Leader-sama," Sasori's gruff voice came. "I should also inform you I shall be leaving to the Tenchi Bridge to speak with the spy I left with Orochimaru. I plan to ask for his movements, in hopes we can retrieve the ring he took with him when he left."

The man nodded, "See that you do. Also, in light of this, we shall be bringing a new member into the Akatsuki," a new person materialised on the final finger. "Welcome, Tobi."

The man dubbed Tobi, jumped up and down. "Tobi is so excited to be in the Abaktsuki!"

"Tobi," Zetsu's voice came calmly. "We have discussed this, we are the Akatsuki, not the 'Abaktsuki.' Clear?"

"Tobi understands!" the man nodded. "Because Tobi is a good boy!" Unseen to all of them, a Sharingan span furiously within the eye hole in Tobi's mask.

He would catch that Jinchuuriki and bring peace! Mark his words, or his name wasn't Madara Uchiha!

* * *

"Team Kakashi," Tsunade spoke up as the Team stood in front of her. She deliberately ignored Sakura, who's eyes were red and was doing her best to avoid looking at Sasuke. "As you are aware, you are being assigned a mission. What you must know is that this is an S-Rank mission, and I cannot guarantee you will return alive."

Kakashi looked around at his team, closing his eyes before he nodded and looked to Tsunade. "We accept. What is the mission, Hokage-sama?"

"We have information that Orochimaru is heading to the Tenshi Bridge," she told them, making Sasuke tense. "You are to head to the Tenshi Bridge and capture Orochimaru, or kill him. Any people he brings with him you are to try your best to capture, if you cannot then eliminate them. For the difficulty of this mission, another Jonin will be joining you. Enter!"

Team seven glanced back as a man entered the room. He had brown hair, a kind smile and wore a very odd looking headband. "Hello," he said to them. "My name is Yamato, and I look forward to working with all of you."

Kakashi's lone eye widened as he saw the jonin. He opened his mouth to speak, before it snapped shut. "Glad to have you on board, Tenzo," he turned back to Tsunade. "When do we leave, Hokage-sama?"

"Immediately," she told him. "You are to leave within the hour, and get there within two days. If the mission proves to be too difficult, you are to cut your loses and return. Dismissed!"

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" they all declared, though Sakura was much quieter than normal. They all filed out the room, going to prepare for the mission.

The blonde Hokage leaned back, pulling out a bottle of Sake and chugging down some of it before she set it back on her desk. "I hope this mission doesn't go badly," she whispered softly.

* * *

 _"Blake," my voice came out slowly as I looked at her. We'd travelled together for about two days, and I was still somewhat wary around her. I was growing used to her though._

 _"Yes Naruto?" she spoke up, glancing at me as we sat by our campfire._

 _"Can you tell me a bit more about Tartarus?" I asked. "I know only the bare minimum, so I could use some…help."_

 _She nodded. "That's fine," she told me and leaned back. "Where to begin…well, Tartarus was originally a place described in Greek Mythology-" she stopped seeing my confused look. "You don't know about the Greek's?"_

 _"What's a Greek?" I asked blankly. 'd never heard of that before, and I actually liked History Class a good amount._

 _She opened her mouth before she shut it. "I'll say more on that later," she told me. "Anyway, it was described in Greek Mythology as a place below even the Underworld. It's the place someone is sent if they have committed an unforgivable evil…or if they pissed off Zeus too much- Zeus being the king of the Greek Gods."_

 _I nodded, and Blake continued. "It originally was just as described, the ultimate punishment for all vile sinners, and the place all monsters from those myths were sent to after death, although they eventually reform in the surface world._

 _"But at some point, things changed," Blake's tone darkened. "For some unknown reason, Tartarus began to grow restless, as the Greek Gods faded after the years. At random points, portals opened up and sucked in anybody who was in their grasp. Innocents and criminals alike."_

 _She sighed once more looking up. "That's how I ended up down here. My team and I were pulled into Tartarus. We got separated as soon as we were pulled in. I don't know how long I've been down here anymore…but on the better side of a millennia if I had to hazard a guess…"_

 _I looked at her with sympathy, and also shock. A thousand years?_ _I_ _t never occurred to me about the immortality we got down here, but a thousand years…I didn't think I could live so long alone without going insane. On top of that, she hadn't found her team in that thousand years._

 _Was this my destiny too? Was I going to be trapped down here, wandering through this endless abyss by myself? For all of time?_

 _"No…" I whispered._

 _"What?" Blake looked at me._

 _I looked at her, my face defiant. "No. I won't let that happen. I won't let you be alone anymore, Blake," I couldn't stand it. The thought of someone being apart from their friends, their_ family _._

 _"Naruto-" she tried to say._

 _"I promise you," I interrupted. "I_ will _help you find your friends so you can all be together again! And that is the promise of a lifetime- 'ttebayo!" I internally groaned at the verbal tic._

 _Blake stared at me for a moment, before she giggled lightly, covering her mouth. "Alright Naruto," she smiled at me. "I'll be putting my faith in you from now on, alright?"_

 _I gave her a grin and nodded. I wouldn't betray her faith, her trust in me. I'd sooner die before I did that to my…friend? Yeah, my friend._

 _Far behind me, though I didn't know it at the time, one brown and one pink eye glared at my back, furious at what they were seeing._


	4. IV: Skinning a Snake

**AN: For warnings and disclaimer, please refer to the first chapter**

 **Current Crossovers:** **Bleach, RWBY, Devil May Cry, Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Fate**

* * *

 _Five years._

 _That's how long I'd been traveling with Blake since I split apart from Neo. We'd gone through what I felt must have been Tartarus in its entirety. And in that time, I'd changed._

 _I wasn't so scrawny and small anymore. Years of needing to eat healthy had caused me to grow to an impressive height, and gotten rid of the baby fat on my body. Training had help me put on muscle too._

 _Sadly, I outgrew my clothes and had to ditch them. Luckily I was able to find a nice pair of 'jeans' as Blake called them that I…liberated from someone while they were asleep, along with a large brown cloak that covered me entirely._

 _Currently, the two of us were headed to a large circular building. We'd heard monsters and people speaking of it for awhile, but we'd finally found it. It was called the 'Arena.' It was a place where people and monsters were locked up and forced to fight. The winner lived, the loser died. Simple as that._

 _I didn't want to go there, but we'd heard whispers of silver eyes, and Blake said that her team leader Ruby had eyes of that colour._

 _And so, there we were headed. To go watch people fight each other while we had no wish to do so. It was for the sake of finding Blake's friend though._

 _"This is a bad idea," I whispered to her, trying to really_ _emphasize_ _that. "I know it's a lead to your friend, but do you really think she'd be in a place like that?"_

 _"She might have been captured," Blake insisted to me. "It doesn't hurt to at least check it out!"_

 _I sighed in defeat, but nodded reluctantly as we headed into the arena and into the stands to watch the fights. I had a horrible feeling about this, and sadly these feelings usually came true._

 _We sat there for three fights, but so far it had just been monster verses monster. Nothing too impressive, the Minotaur took on a Hydra, with the Hydra winning. Then it was a Cyclopes fighting another Cyclopes. And after that it was a Dracnae against some sort of water creature, with the former winning._

 _I was just about to suggest we leave, when suddenly a voice boomed. "All stand for the Queen of the Pit!" Instantly, everybody made their way to their feet, and so Blake and I followed suit._

 _The look of shock I saw on Blake's face as the Queen of the Pit came into view would be forever etched into my memory._

 _She stood there, her red hair long and flowing down her back, her face a perfect shape and her lips a rosy red. A white cloak covered her body, but a red scythe was attached to her back, and her eyes were a cold silver._

 _My blood ran cold. This girl…could it be? I spared a glance at Blake, and the shock she bore confirmed my thoughts._ _B_ _ased on how she'd been described, I never would have expected Blake's team leader to be like this._

 _But a lot could change in a thousand years. What I was seeing right now was definite proof of that. And I had a feeling I'd see more proof as I travelled._

 _"Shall we begin the fourth match?" Rose Ruby said in a cold voice that sent shivers down my spine. Blake looked horrified at what she was seeing._

 _Just what had we gotten ourselves into?_

* * *

 **IV: Skinning a Snake**

Naruto leaned against the gates of the Kingdom, his cloak covering his body entirely except for his eyes. He tilted his head and cracked his neck, letting out a grunt of satisfaction as he waited for the rest of the group that would be heading with him to the Tenchi Bridge.

It had been two days since he'd decided Orochimaru couldn't be allowed to remain alive, and it was about time for them to head off to the bridge. Now he was just waiting for them to arrive.

"Hey Ruto!" speaking of them, it seemed Percy was here. Shifting his gaze to the Son of Poseidon, Naruto saw a grin on his face.

"Hey Perce," the blonde replied, giving Percy a high five. "You ready for this mission?"

Percy nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be, Ruto," he told the blonde as he stretched. "We still waiting on Pinecone Face and the Miss Shadow Cat?"

The Jinchuuriki gave Percy a nod. "Yeah, knowing Blake she'll be here in 5 more minutes on the dot, while Thalia should be-"

"Right here?" came the voice of the woman in question. Naruto and Percy looked to her as she sauntered towards them with a smirk on her face as she twirled the long, blood red spear in her hands, her bracelet glimmering in the sunlight.

"Right on time," Naruto smirked under his hood. "And now we just await the kitten herself."

Thalia snorted lightly. "It's Blake, she'll show up whenever she wants. We might as well grab a bite to eat."

"Ah, but that's where your wrong," Naruto looked at Thalia, his golden eyes sparkling in amusement. "I've known Blake for nearly 3 millennia. She'll be here in five…no, three minutes now."

"You can't possibly know that."

"And yet I'm saying I do," Naruto retorted. "Just wait three- no, two minutes, and you'll see."

Percy cut in before Thalia could try and return fire. "Cool it Thals," he said. "Don't bother arguing with Naruto. He travelled with Blake for years down in the pit. If anyone knows Blake, it is definitely Ruto."

Thalia glared at Percy. "Stay out of this Seaweed Brain!" she snapped at him, before she realised her mistake.

Instantly, Percy looked down as he felt pain flood his body from the use of that old nickname. A name he hadn't heart since…since Annabeth had died down in the pit.

"What did I miss?" Blake's voice cut in as she arrived, drawing the ire of Thalia as she already felt bad for what she'd said, and light amusement from Naruto.

Instead of responding to the faunus, Naruto merely pat Percy on the back. "She's in a better place," he told Percy lightly, who didn't respond, he just looked up with his sad, sea green eyes. Sighing, Naruto turned away and faced towards the forest beyond the gates. "Let's go," he told them. "We have a snake that needs a thorough skinning."

* * *

"How is it you are up before us?" Sasuke asked Kakashi as he walked out of the wooden house Yamato had created using his **Mokuton**. "You are the laziest person I know, how come you get up so damn early?"

"Maa, maa," Kakashi eye smiled at Sasuke, finding his reaction somewhat amusing. He rarely got moments like these anymore. "Don't concern yourself with that, Sasuke. For now, could you go wake up Sakura?"

"No," the Uchiha said indifferently. "She is intolerable and constantly tries to get my affections. I do not want them, nor will I _ever_ want them. She is nowhere near my type of girl, at all."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "And here I thought you must be gay," he said. "With the amount of pussy being tossed at you, I thought you'd have popped your cherry, yet you haven't. Good to know you don't bat for the other team."

Sasuke let out a groan. This had been a running gag among Jonin and Chunin for awhile now. They all said he'd have to be gay to turn away all the girls he did. He wasn't gay, he just had yet to find a girl to fit his interests.

"I don't see how that concerns you," Sasuke said. "Just know it isn't a fan girl. I don't know how Tsunade didn't beat the fan girl out of her damn ass, but I guess she'll be a fan girl for life. At least she can heal…"

The Jonin said nothing, though Sasuke's assessment was correct. Sakura was far too into the path of a fan girl to turn away, but she was thankfully a semi-competent Kunoichi when Sasuke was not involved. When he was though, it was instant fan girl.

"Then I'll wake her," Kakashi said after a moment of silence and he headed inside.

Shrugging, Sasuke took a seat on a rock as he waited for Kakashi and Yamato, along with that weird third teammate they had now. Sai.

That guy sent shivers down his spine, especially with that first comment on the size of his dick. Seriously, who made a comment like that after meeting someone!? It was really creepy!

Sighing, Sasuke looked to the sky. Ever since they'd set off on this mission, his bad feeling about the mission had been getting worse. And now was the day they were going to confront Orochimaru. One thing was certain within his mind though.

Today, someone was going to die. A member of his team, or Orochimaru himself, Sasuke really didn't know…

He didn't want to either.

* * *

Sasori grunted as he waited in the middle of the Tenchi Bridge, waiting for his Spy to arrive. "The brat is taking a long time," Sasori grumbled. "Perhaps he was found by Orochimaru, it will be annoying if I released the Jutsu while he was around Orochimaru."

"I apologise for my tardiness, Sasori-sama," a voice came not long after Sasori spoke, a cloaked figure walking up to him. "It took a little time to convince Orochimaru to allow me to leave the base, and I had to lose the Shinobi he had tailing me."

"Very well," he grunted. "Remove that ridiculous hood already, I must confirm that it is you."

Nodding, the spy lowered his hood to reveal Yakushi Kabuto. Within the bushes a short distance away, it took a lot for the Konoha Shinobi not to gasp in surprise at the spy's identity. It appeared Kabuto had a long history of spying.

"Did you have any difficulties?" Sasori asked in a gruff voice, best to get that out of the way.

Kabuto shook his head. "No, Sasori-sama. Luckily, you released the Jutsu whilst I was alone in my room, so I was able to quickly understand the situation and not be suspected. Orochimaru still has people tracing everyone in the bases, he trusts nobody. Not even me, and I'm technically his right hand man right now."

"I see…" Sasori took a moment to think before he spoke up. "Which base does Orochimaru intend to go to and why does he plan to go there?"

"He intends to travel to the base he has in Kumo next," he told Sasori. "He is keeping a special test subject there whom he wishes to experiment on more, and hopefully replicate her abilities for his own uses."

Sasori nodded, dismissing the notion. Orochimaru loved experimenting on people, it was no concern of his just who he was experimenting on. "And what of the ring I told you of previously?"

Kabuto shook his head. "I'm afraid Orochimaru keeps that with him at all times, he never lets it out of his sight. While he doesn't plan on getting on Akatsuki's way, he isn't going out of his way to help you either."

"I see…" Sasori almost found it amusing. Orochimaru not wanting to get in their way? He got onto their shit list the second he betrayed them for his own ambitions. Granted, they all had their own ambitions, but they weren't foolish enough to turn their back on Akatsuki.

"With all due respect, Sasori-sama," Kabuto spoke up. "May I please have the item now? I do not know how much longer I can stay here without arousing suspicion."

"Very well," Sasori slowly reached into his robe, before his eyes narrowed and his metallic tail flashed out from under his cloak. Instantly, Kabuto jumped away as a kunai flew past where his head had been, and he landed next to Sasori, with said man's tail deflecting the Kunai.

"He's here…" Sasuke let out a low whisper. He could feel his curse mark screaming in the presence of _that_ man. And it was wise to scream.

Rising up from the ground was Orochimaru of Sannin, a smirk on his pale face. "Room for one more, gentlemen?" he asked as he stood there.

"Orochimaru," Sasori growled. It appears Kabuto was followed by the snake himself. Perfect, just what he didn't want to deal with.

"I must thank you, Sasori-sama," Kabuto said. "Had you not unleashed your tail, that Kunai would have pierced my skull."

"Don't flatter yourself Kabuto," Sasori told him. "I unleashed my tail because I saw the Kunai coming, and I was protecting myself."

"Kukuku," Orochimaru chuckled. "Still so cold, Sasori. Of course, I suppose you wouldn't have changed at all. Still blindly following those ringed eyes like the mere dog you are."

"It appears you'll be dying right here, Orochimaru," Sasori said. "It's almost a pity, I wanted to see your face when Itachi dealt with yo-"

He was cut off as Kabuto's hand lit up for his **Chakura No Mesu** and cut straight through Sasori…or rather, the wooden puppet that covered Sasori as the true one jumped away, his head down hiding his face from view.

"So that is what Sasori looks like?" Kabut questioned as he saw red hair on Sasori.

"He never showed you his looks either, Kabuto?" Orochimaru questioned, chuckling. "Kukuku…how careful you are, Sasori."

"Kabuto…you have betrayed me?" Sasori's voice came, no longer as gruff as before. In fact, it sounded rather light and young.

Kabuto just shrugged with a smile. "Orochimaru-sama broke the jutsu holding me long ago, I serve him willingly now. And we shall be ending you."

"I see…" Sasori looked up and revealed his young face. "Then it appears I don't have a reason to let either of you live. I'll kill you right now, Kabuto, Orochimaru."

"You might," Orochimaru admitted. "But before you do, how about you call out the five rats hiding in the bushes?"

Sasori's eyes narrowed as he glanced back. "So, I was followed? How embarrassing…"

Sasuke cursed, but Kakashi gave a nod and the group of five jumped out, glaring at the group of three.

Orochimaru's eyes lit up in excitement. "Why Sasuke-kun," he cooed out. "You came…it seems I can have your body after all. How lucky for me."

The Uchiha visibly shivered. "You'll never have my body, you freak," he snarled out, giving Orochimaru the most heated glare he could possibly muster. He couldn't believe he'd nearly _joined_ this guy!

"As amusing as this is," Sasori cut in, smirking as he pulled out a storage scroll. "I believe it's about time we got down to busine-"

Suddenly, Sasori was cut off as a hand flew through his chest, holding his artificial heart in its palm. Sasori's eyes widened as he slowly glanced back, a bitter smile coming over his lips. "So you're the one to kill me…how annoying…" his eyes dulled as the hand crushed the cylinder.

From behind, a cloaked man pulled his hand back as Sasori's body fell to the ground, dead. Everyone was in shock. The Konoha Shinobi, Kabuto, and even Orochimaru.

From under the cloak, golden eyes stared at the group. "Hello children," the man cooed out in a sadistic tone. "Room for one more? No? Then what about four?"

To his left, in a spiral of water, a teen with black hair and sea green eyes appeared, holding a sword of bronze over his shoulder and bore a smirk on his face.

To his right, lightning struck the ground and from it stood a girl with short black hair that was messed up, with electric blue eyes. In one hand was a spear, and in the other was a shield with the most hideous face any of them had ever seen. It made everyone want to look away, yet it was too horrifying to look away.

And then, finally, shadows leapt up and melded into the form of a person, before the shadows faded and there stood a girl with long, flowing black hair and slightly slitted amber eyes. She was holding what seemed to be a large black sword.

"So that's the Snake Pedo?" the black haired boy asked, pointing his sword at Orochimaru. The Sannin twitched in annoyance while the cloaked man nodded. "Huh, you were spot on with the description."

"And when, Winter, has he not been spot on?" The girl on the man's shoulders asked as she jumped down, crouching lowly in front of him, ready to strike at any time.

"Fair point," the now identified Winter said. He glanced at the Konoha team and he looked like he was restraining himself. "Just Orochimaru is our target, right Phoenix?"

The cloaked man- now known as Phoenix- nodded. "Yes, leave the Shinobi be. They won't get in our way when dealing with the snake," he smirked lightly. "But just in case…Gambol, Autumn. Make sure they don't interfere."

"Understood," the amber eyed girl- Gambol- responded. The last one must have been Autumn, and she just silently nodded as she glared at Sakura, as if the banshee had done something in the past to her.

"And what about me?" Winter asked. Phoenix merely pointed at Kabuto, and Winter smirked. "Oh you are too kind…"

"Who are you?" Orochimaru demanded, a feeling of worry bubbling within him. This man…how was it possible he didn't sense him until just now? He'd even killed Sasori before Orochimaru could comprehend the situation. It was…impossible.

"You don't need to know," Phoenix said. "All you need to know is that I've come for your soul, Orochimaru," his golden eyes glowed maliciously. "It's time to give the devil his due."

As he said 'due,' his group sprung into action. Autumn jumped in front of the Konoha Ninja, Blake beside her, and she slammed her spear into the ground. Lightning struck all around them before it collected and formed a sphere around them. A dome of lightning.

"What is this?" Phoenix heard Sasuke's voice from within, but he didn't care. He had more important things to attend to. Shifting his gaze to the Sannin, he smirked.

Kabuto quickly jumped in front of Orochimaru, but Winter tackled him off the bridge and towards the water far below. "Kick his ass!" Winter's voice came echoing.

Phoenix smirked. "It's just you and me now, Orochimaru," he said in a cheerful voice that sent shivers down the Sannin's spine.

"Who are you?" Orochimaru demanded once again, fear gripping at his heart.

"It doesn't matter who I am or was," Phoenix said, stepping forwards. Before he knew it, Orochimaru found a hand on his face and found himself flying through the forest, hitting every tree on the way to a clearing up ahead.

Once at the clearing, he felt his head get slammed into the ground hard. Slowly pulling his head up, he looked at Phoenix who was now standing a good distance away.

Holding up three fingers, Phoenix spoke. "Three chances," he said. "I will give you three chances to end my life. After the third attempt, if you fail…I will kill you without a second of hesitation. Now come, Orochimaru…" his golden eyes glowed, and in that moment Orochimaru knew he wasn't facing a man.

He was facing a monster that he had no way to escape from.

* * *

The instant the dome formed around them, Sasuke was both fascinated and worried. Lightning was an attacking Element, he knew this of course since it was one of his affinities. Nobody used it for defense or anything besides attack, except the Fourth Raikage who had his **Raiton No Yoroi**.

"What is this!?" So how? How could this girl create a dome of lightning and confine them all there?

"You don't know or understand lightning," Autumn said simply, twirling her spear as Gambol drew what seemed to be a short Katana from the sheath, slipping the sheath onto her back. "Think Phoenix would be mad if we killed 'em, Gambol?"

"Possibly," Gambol said simply, all while Sasuke grew more and more infuriated at them talking like he was nothing. He wasn't as prideful as before, but he still HAD pride, damn it! He wouldn't be treated like he was nothing!

Lightning gathered in his hand and he charged towards them. " **Chidori!** "

"Sasuke, wait!" Kakashi yelled to him, but he didn't as he continued to charge, his eyes glowing with fury.

Autumn looked unimpressed. "Gambol, you want to take this?"

"With pleasure," Gambol smirked as she ran at Sasuke. Sasuke thrust the **Chidori** at her, but she merely ducked under it. "Sloppy," she said, sweeping his leg out from under him in a flash.

Sasuke was surprised, but managed to back flip away from her and charge at her again, drawing his sword and swinging it at her. Gambol was quick to block with her own sword. "Oh, so it's a battle of swords you want?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow. "I'd be happy to oblige you, little boy."

The 'little boy' growled at those words, infuriated. "I'm going to kick your ass!" he snarled as he began to engage her with his sword.

Autumn hummed as she walked towards the two Chunin and two Jonin, twirling her spear as she held her shield in front of her. "Looks like your golden boy is a bit busy," she mocked them. "I hope you don't mind dealing with little ol' me. Because unlike Gambol…I don't quite know what 'holding back' means."

"You won't win," Kakashi told her, getting into stance as Sai pulled out his scroll and brush, Sakura tightened her gloves, and Yamato stood ready with the **Hebi** seal. "It's four against one, an unfair fight."

"You're right," she agreed, smirking. "You should have brought another ten." She thrust her spear towards the sky as lightning shot down at the group.

Kakashi quickly formed a **Raikiri** and swung at the bolt as the lightning split in half from the impact. With the speed the lightning was moving, he was honestly shocked he was able to stop it in time. Sakura looked on in awe at Kakashi using the Jutsu to actually cut lightning.

"Impressive," Autumn said, her electric blue eyes sparking with amusement. "You really _can_ cut lightning. I was wondering if that little entry in the bingo book was telling the truth."

She didn't get to say anymore, as Yamato reacted. " **Mokuton: Shichuro No Jutsu!"** Instantly, a cage rose up around Autumn, closing at the top to prevent her exit. "There, that should hold her for a moment," he told the group.

Autumn merely quirked an eyebrow as the top of her spear cackled with electricity and she sliced through the wood with ease, causing it to explode violently as she jumped out. "Phoenix won't mind if I kill just one of you," she growled as she thrust her spear towards Yamato.

Sadly for her, Kakashi grabbed her spear and tossed her away using it, while Sakura charged in, jumping up with the intention to hit her with a falling punch. "CHAA!"

Autumn looked up at Sakura and smirked as lightly cackled along her spear. "Wrong move!" she thrust her spear towards Sakura, even as she fell back, and she pierced straight through the pinkette before Sakura's fist could hit her.

Eyes' widening, Sakura coughed up blood right onto Autumn's face as she fell towards the side. "Sakura!" Kakashi yelled as he ran over, with Autumn quickly jumping away. As she did so, Gambol landed behind her, their backs pressing against each other.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked as he rejoined his team, his face bruised and hurt, his clothing torn. "What happened to her?"

"She's been pierced…" Kakashi grunted.

Reaching out, Sakura tried to seal herself, but screamed in pain as she couldn't seem to use her chakra for some strange reason, making Kakashi's lone eye widened.

"The spear did something," he said. "She needs medical attention. We're going back to Konoha," he told Sasuke. He looked miffed, but he nodded.

"You think I'll let you escape?" Autumn snarled. "You won't be leav-"

"Let them go," Gambol said, giving Autumn a stern look. Autumn wanted to argue, but instead she grunted and the lightning dome vanished as if it had never existed. The Shinobi immediately retreated, except for Sai, who appeared to be sneaking to the location where Phoenix was fighting Orochimaru.

Autumn raised an eyebrow. "You want him?"

"No, you can do it," Gambol told her as Autumn smirked.

Hoisting up her arm, she pulled it back and her muscles tensed, her eyes locking onto Sai's form. " **Gae Bolg** ," she tossed the spear, and an explosion rocked the forest. They would never find Sai's body, only his broken paint brush and his book of drawings, the unfinished picture of himself and his brother in it.

* * *

"Going down!" Winter laughed as he and Kabuto began to fall to the water far below.

"Let me go!" Kabuto growled as he kept trying to elbow Winter away, but his grip kept firm, no matter how he tried.

Finally, as they reached the water, Winter kicked Kabuto away and rolled back, standing on the water and smirking at the medic, who glared as he stood on the water. "Man, you sure are stingy," Winter mused. "Phoenix is a much better sport than you are. Upset because the pedo is gonna die and he won't be able to pound you anymore?"

"Don't you talk about Orochimaru-sama like that!" Kabuto growled as a **Chakura No Mesu** formed on each of his hands. "Who are you, a member of the Hozuki Clan?"

"Never heard of it," Winter shrugged, smirking at Kabuto as he ran a hand through his hair. There was a shimmer as his hair turned into a glistening white, his eyes going from sea green to a wine red. "But I'm afraid you'll have to be my entertainment for awhile…I haven't had a fight where I could stop holding back for awhile."

Kabuto gulped. He couldn't sense any Chakra from Winter, not even a little bit…so just why the hell did he feel such dread when up against this…this kid!?

"You know," Winter spoke up. "I usually like water…but for you, I think we need something…colder…" twirling his bronze sword, he stabbed it into the water, and Kabuto watched in shock as the river began turn to solid ice, and it began to spread. He had to jump up to avoid being consumed as it spread all the way down without stopping.

Slowly, Winter drew his sword from the water. "Do you like it?" he said in a mocking voice. "Usually I'm pretty nice to people, you know…but then I meet people like you who work the Snake Pedo and I can't help but have my trigger pulled…" Winter's cheerful gaze turned into that of a blizzard, his smile long gone. "And it makes me want to teach you just why I bear the name Winter."

"Y-you…wh-what are you!?" Kabuto yelled, fear gripping his heart.

"I am the Destroyer of Olympus," Winter said, his eyes glowing as the air around him grew cold. "The Bane of Kronos, Conqueror of Gaea, the Final Judgement, the Horseman of Chaos. I am…Winter. And you, Kabuto, have been judged. And I deem you…" his eyes flashed as his bronze sword turned into a striking midnight black. "Guilty. Your punishment? Being erased from existence."

Kabuto gulped but took a breath. He wouldn't let this boastful brat beat him! He was the right hand man of Orochimaru, and had faced one of the Sannin and come out without a problem! He would wi-

"How sad," Winter said from behind Kabuto, and instantly the medic screamed out in agony.

He could feel it, his blood freezing within him, his body growing colder, and ice forming over the large gash running from his left shoulder to the right side of his hip as he fell back.

Winter walked and stood over him, pointing the midnight black sword down at Kabuto. "And to think…this all could have been avoided…had you merely realised that you chose a foolish path…" he tutted.

The last image Kabuto had before he was erased was the smiling form of Winter above him, but all he could see was a demon that would make the Kyuubi wet itself.

* * *

Phoenix laughed as he watched Orochimaru attack him the only way the man seemed to know how. Using his snakes. It was so stupid it made Phoenix laugh in amusement. So long, and all Orochimaru still had was Taijutsu and his **Hebi Jutsu**? It had been years, and Phoenix knew Orochimaru still had his **Futon**.

"Stay still you brat," Orochimaru snarled as he continued to fail hitting Phoenix with all of his **Hebi Jutsu**.

"No," Phoenix chuckled. Snapping his fingers, all the snakes burst into flames before Orochimaru's eyes. "All of those attacks? That was your first try at killing me, Orochimaru. You have two more before I end your pathetic life."

Orochimaru growled. This mere boy thought he could kill him, one of the Sannin!? He was immortal! Eternal! He would not die, ever! "You insolent little…" he snarled as he slammed his hands together. " **Futon: Daitoppa!** "

Phoenix merely shook his head in disappointment as the blast of wind surged towards him. He merely stomped on the ground as a wall of earth surged up and blocked the attack. "That wasn't really a good try," he mocked. "I'll give you a freebie on that one, so you still have two more tries! Care to try out your **Kenjutsu** with the **Kusanagi** next?"

"Do not mock me!" Orochimaru snarled, however he summoned forth his weapon, glaring at Phoenix as the man merely kept his golden gaze locked onto Orochimaru. "Die!" Orochimaru snarled as he charged in, beginning to aim swings towards Phoenix' head and limbs, hoping to maim him or cut off his head.

Sadly for Orochimaru, he'd allowed his rage to blind him and it allowed Phoenix to dodge him with ease. His golden eyes glowed with amusement as he continued to dodge Orochimaru without a single care in the world.

After a minute or so, he got bored and kicked the Snake Pedophile away. "That was chance number two," he said as Orochimaru stood up. "Don't waste your third one."

Growling, Orochimaru realised he'd have just one shot. Biting both of his thumbs he slammed his hands onto the ground as seals formed under them. Summoning seals. " **Kuchiyose: Sanju Rashomon!"**

Phoenix heard a screeching of metal as three menacing gates formed a triangle around him, sealing him in. Glancing up, he saw Orochimaru and two **Kage Bushin** , each standing on a gate and forming hand seals. The first finished and yelled out, " **Katon: Karyudan!** " Opening his mouth, he shot a sleek fire projectile at Phoenix, who looked on amused.

The Orochimaru on the second gate finished not long after, yelling out, " **Katon: Goryuka No Jutsu!** " And from his mouth, shot a fire in the shape of a dragon's head that headed straight for Phoenix.

Finally, the last and real Orochimaru yelled out, " **Futon: Atsugai!** " Instantly, as the two attacks neared Phoenix, a large tornado dome formed in between the three gates, enveloping the two fire techniques and creating a spiraling dome of fire that covered Phoenix' form from Orochimaru's sight.

The two clones dispelled and the Sannin fell to one knee, but he grinned viciously. "It looks like you weren't able to make good on your promise!" he sneered. "Now with you out of the way, I can get back to capturing Sasuke-ku-"

"Chance number three, failure," his voice came from behind Orochimaru. Freezing, the Sannin turned around and somehow turned even paler at the sight of just who was standing there.

Before he could even speak, Orochimaru had a hand shoved through his chest, the hand holding his still beating heart. "Ku…ku…" Orochimaru chuckled despite himself, blood dripping out of his mouth. "It seems…you were bet…ter than Sasu…ke after…all…" the hand crushed the heart as gold met gold, and all Orochimaru could do was fall back.

And all Orochimaru could see as he died was the face of Uzumaki Naruto, staring at the him with a vicious smirk on whiskered face.

* * *

 _"Blake!" I hissed quietly to her as the fourth match began. "Please, for the love of god, tell me that isn't the Ruby you've told me so much about!"_

 _"I…it is," she sounded shocked as she spoke. I had asked praying it wasn't, but I knew Blake would recognise her friend. But it did not mean I had to be pleased about it. "I don't know how but…it's been a millennia, things were bound to change. Yet…she's so cold now…"_

 _"I can see that," I ran a hand through my hair, taking a deep breath as I observed the Queen of the Arena, narrowing my eyes as I watched her carefully._

 _I couldn't tell what it was, but something about this whole thing screamed at me that something was definitely wrong._

 _Taking a breath, I decided to observe the match for the time being. This time two people were fighting, nothing too impressive. A pair of girls, one with black hair and the other with blue hair._

 _The match seemed to be going either way, but soon the blue haired girl pinned down the black haired one and held her sword to her throat. The blue haired girl looked up, hoping it was enough._

 _Ruby merely gave a thumbs down, and I could see the heart of the girl sink as she looked at the black haired girl with pity. The girl simply nodded, and my eyes widened as I realised what was going to happen._

 _Unable to stop myself, I leapt down into the arena, kicking the two girls apart and standing between them. I heard boos and angry yells from the crowd, and I knew that I might have made a mistake…or created an opportunity._

 _"And who do you think you are?" I heard Ruby sneer at me. "To interfere in this fight,_ boy _?"_

 _"Uzumaki Naruto," I told her, looking up at her. I didn't flinch at her cold silver gaze. "And I stopped you from making someone_ kill _when they had no desire to do so."_

 _"And you had no right," Ruby retorted. "Guards…kill him…"_

 _As the guards made a move towards me, Blake jumped down beside me. "Ruby! Stop!"_

 _Instantly, the girl's silver eyes widened impossibly at the sight of her former teammate. "Blake…?" she seemed to be in disbelief, as if she couldn't believe that her former teammate was standing right here in front of her._

 _"Yes Ruby, it's me," she confirmed. "Why are you doing this? You didn't used to be so…so cold and violent. What happened to you to turn you into…_ this _?"_

 _Immediately, her eyes turned cold again. "What happened?" she asked rhetorically. "I went through hell, Blake. All alone, no sister, no partner, no teammates. All alone. And I was forced to adapt and survive. I could trust nobody but myself, and the person you see in front of you is the result of that trust. I became_ strong _because I never let anyone get close to me."_

 _"You're wrong!" I growled at her. "It's only when you fight to protect someone important to you that your true strength makes itself known to the world!" The words Haku told me. While I hated Konoha, I would never forget his words for as long as I lived._

 _"You must have only come here recently if you believe that," Ruby snorted. "But I am a woman of chance. What say you? Your belief against mine?"_

 _My eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?" I asked slowly._

 _"It is quite simple," she said. "A one-on-one fight. You against me. Tomorrow. If you win, I will admit I am wrong and join you and Blake since you are obviously searching for the rest of my_ team _. If_ I _win however, you will fight in this arena for the next 300 years._

 _"Ruby, that's too-" Blake tried to speak, but I cut her off._

 _"You have a deal," I told her, no hesitation in her voice. Something that seemed to catch her off guard. "But until then, no humans can fight in matches. Monsters sure, but not a single human."_

 _Ruby rolled her eyes. "Very well, boy, I will entertain your request. Monsters will be enough to keep the viewers interested for a day," she stood up. "Ladies and Gentleman! Tomorrow, our main event shall be myself, the Queen of the Arena, against this foolish boy who dares to question my way!"_

 _The viewers cheered and wolf whistled, clearly excited for the match that would be happening the next day. Ruby looked down at me. "One day, boy," she said. "And I shall have you fighting every human I have held in this place, just to_ spite _you."_

 _I nodded and grabbed Blake's hand, pulling her out of the arena. Instantly she hit me and hissed, "What were you thinking you idiot?" she demanded._

 _"I was taking a chance," I retorted. "This could be our only chance to get Ruby on our side. With her, we should be able to find the others! She's the queen of the arena, she's bound to have heard something!"_

 _"And offering your servitude was just for that!?" she asked incredulously. "She has over a thousand years of experience! You have hardly 10 now, collectively! What are you going to do against her!?"_

 _"What I do against every person who underestimates me," I smirked. "I am the Number 1 Unpredictable Knucklehead Shinobi, Blake. I always do what you least expect."_

 _At least if anyone expected what plan I had in store, I'd certainly be surprised. Because I just thought of it myself. I clenched my fist and tuned out Blake's yelling._

 _Ruby was step one to fulfilling my promise. And I'd finish this step no matter what. I always keep my promises, and I never go back on my word._

 _That is my_ ** _Nindo_** _, after all._

* * *

 **Chakura No Mesu - Chakra Scalpel**

 **Raiton No Yoroi - Lightning Release Armour**

 **Mokuton: Shichuro No Jutsu - Wood Release: Four Pillar Prison Technique**

 **Mokuton - Wood Release**

 **Chidori - One Thousand Birds**

 **Raikiri - Lightning Edge**

 **Futon: Daitoppa - Wind Release: Great Breakthrough**

 **Kuchiyose: Sanju Rashomon - Summoning: Triple Rashomon**

 **Katon: Karyudan - Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet**

 **Katon: Goryuka No Jutsu - Fire Release: Great Fire Dragon Technique**

 **Futon: Atsugai - Wind Release: Pressure Damage**

 **Hebi - Snake**

 **Hebi Jutsu - Snake Techniques**

 **Kenjutsu - Sword Arts**

 **Kage Bushin - Shadow Clones**

 **Nindo - Ninja Way**


	5. V: Planning

**AN: For disclaimer and warnings, see the first chapter. For the current Harem, see Chapter 3. For current crossovers, see Chapter 4.**

* * *

 _I was back._

 _It was only standing before these gates I realised just how long it had been since I'd last ventured here…into the deepest recess of my mind where_ it _slept. I never thought I'd come back here of my own free will to visit it, and yet here I was…_

 _Staring into a pair of crimson eyes that stared right back at me. I could see it's fanged smirk behind the bars, the malicious glint in it's eyes._

 _"Kyuubi," I spoke after what felt like a thousand years, though I knew it couldn't have been that long. "It has been a long time since we last met."_

 ** _"Indeed it has,"_** _the fox said, amusement lacing its voice._ ** _"And what an unexpected visit from my warden. Five years without a single visit. Just_** **what** ** _compelled you that you would come to me willingly, brat?"_**

 _"Your chakra," I said, walking towards the gates and I slowly began to rise towards the piece of paper that contained the beast. "For a long time I've feared your power," I told it. "But right now I need that power of yours so that I can keep a promise. But not the pathetic amount I draw from you, I need all of your power…even if it means tearing it from you forcefully."_

 _The Kyuubi's eyes narrowed at me as I reached out to grip the piece of paper._ ** _"You think you can defeat me!? I, Kyuubi, the strongest of the nine tailed beasts!? Do not be foolish, Naruto! You are nowhere near powerful enough!"_**

 _"Maybe so," I said as I tore off the seal without a second of hesitation, now seeing a small spiral that held the gates together. I felt as if someone was smiling down at me as I tore off the seal. "But I sure as hell won't know…until I try!" I leapt back as I used my control over my mind to will the spiral to open and unleash the gates._

 _As soon as the spiral was gone, the Kyuubi punched the gates open and let out a vicious roar, forcing me back a little as I could feel the shock waves it caused._ ** _"You've made the biggest mistake of your life, Naruto!"_** _it roared at me._

 _"_ ** _Kage Bushin No Jutsu!_** _" I yelled out, a single clone coming into existence beside me as I held out my hand and it formed a_ ** _Rasengan_** _in my palm, before it vanished._

 ** _"That little mockery of my Bijuudama will do you no good, Naruto!"_** _Kyuubi roared at me as it opened its mouth and red and blue orbs of chakra began to appear, gathering into a ball just in front of its mouth._

 _"Man," I whistled. "That's some power you have…" I took a deep breath and smiled sadly. "I pity you, Kyuubi…"_

That _seemed to throw the beast off as it looked at me in shock, as if it couldn't believe what I'd just said._

 _"I mean it," I said. "I really do pity you…you've never known love…of friendship…all you are is a bundle of hate and malice…which is why I won't have a problem making you_ ** _suffer_** _…" I snarled out at the end, all warmth now gone from my voice._

 ** _"NARUTO!"_** _it roared as it reared its head back and fired the colossal blast of chakra at me in a steady beam. I knew that if that touched me, that it would kill me, and so I did what I always do best._

 _I was unpredictable, and ran straight towards it. I pulled my attack back before I thrust it forward, eyes burning with determination. "_ ** _Rasengan!_** _"_

 _And just like that, the power struggle began. Somehow, the entirety of the blast was being held back by my_ ** _Rasengan_** _as Kyuubi and I struggled for dominance, it took every drop of power I had to make it even, and even now I could feel my power waning._

 _Suddenly, I felt two hands press onto my back. Glancing back, my eyes widened to see two people, a man and a woman._

 _The man had blonde hair and blue eyes, with a smile on his face while the woman had long red hair and violet eyes, grinning at me widely._

 _"Who are-" I tried to speak, but before I could I could feel_ something _entering me. Not power, no changes were being made but…jutsu, knowledge, techniques I had no clue about and how to use them were forming in my brain._

 _"Good luck…Naruto…my son," the blonde man said, and my eyes widened as I finally realised just who this was. The Yondaime Hokage. And he just called me son. Which mean that…_

 _"We'll always love you…so don't let the fox win," the woman told me, and tears dripped from my eyes as her name entered my mind. Uzumaki Kushina. My mother._

 _"W-wait, don't-" I tried to say, but the two suddenly vanished into nothing. My tears became hateful along with my eyes as a furious expression came over my face, and I glared angrily at the fox._

 _Chains burst from the ground, chains of my own making, and wrapped around its limbs. Surprised, it cancelled its attack as it fell to the ground, landing flat on its back._ ** _"Th-these are Kushina's…!"_** _it spoke in shock._

 _I walked towards it, livid. It had taken everything from me. First my childhood. Then it was slowly sapping my life every time I used its chakra._

 _And now…it stole away my one chance to connect with my parents and really learn about them. And for that, this_ beast _would never be forgiven. I will make it suffer for all eternity!_

 _"I told you I would have your chakra," I told it, any sign of warmth long gone from my voice as I stood over it and reached out with my own chakra. I gripped the red energy within the beast and pulled, a thin line of gold surging from the beast into my hand._

 ** _"Don't think its so easy!"_** _the beast snarled as the line of gold began to turn red, and I could hear the voices of the villagers, the malice and hate I had for them. The corruption. I would_ _kill them…_ ** _kill them a-_**

I'll be putting my faith in you from now on, alright? _I froze a little as I heard Blake's voice echo throughout my mind. That was right. I couldn't let this anger control me, Blake was counting on me to bring her team back together…I couldn't let her down._

 _Taking a breath, I wiped away the malice and hate within my mind, thinking of all the good times I had back in the surface world and over my five long years with Blake. I heard the beast roar in anger as I continued to suck up its chakra, but I ignored it as the thoughts kept coming._

 _And soon, I felt them settle on a girl I hadn't thought about in years. Long dual coloured hair, heterochromic eyes, awfully short, and with that damned teasing and irritable grin on her face. I had to find her someday and apologise._

 _Yeah…that sounded good. Apologise…to Neo._

 _My eyes surged open as I felt my power increase beyond what I thought it could reach. I looked over myself, seeing that I was now completely golden in colour, and had what looked like a pair of horns on my head, along with a strange intricate design for a seal on my stomach._

 _"So this is your power," I mused, smirking at the Kyuubi as it glared at my hatefully. My eyes lit up as I jumped away, knowledge of a sealing technique entering my mind. I placed my fingers onto my stomach where the seal was, before turning it._

 _Suddenly, large pillars slammed down on each of the Kyuubi's tails, then its body, and then its neck as it was pulled back behind the gates of the seal once again._ ** _"This is…the Six Paths…!"_** _it barked out, eyes wide in shock._

 _"Goodbye, Kyuubi," I told it with a smirk on my lips as I turned away, willing my new form away as I began to leave. "I'll come see you again soon, trust me on that…" I waved my hands and the gates of the seal slammed shut, though I ignored the beast's protests and curses towards me._

 _Slowly, I felt my eyes open to the black abyss as I slowly sat up, grinning lightly as I could feel the power I'd stolen swirling around inside of me. Yes…Ruby wouldn't know what hit her._

 **-Line Break-**

 **V: Planning**

As he watched Orochimaru fall to the ground, dead, Naruto couldn't help but feel satisfaction run through his body. He'd long had it out for this snake, being the core of all his issues. Had he not placed that damnable seal on the Uchiha, then perhaps he'd still have a home in Konoha.

It might not have mattered to him any more, but the feeling of extracting revenge on the snake filled him with joy. Raising his arm, he sliced Orochimaru's head clean off with the side of his hand.

He then sealed the body and head into separate storage scrolls. Who knew what the Sannin had done with his body, after all? Best to have it sealed up so it couldn't cause him any more issues, years down in Tartarus taught him to be very cautious. Speaking of which, he'd better grab Sasori's head and body too.

"All done then?" he heard Percy's voice come from behind. Glancing back, he saw that the demigod's hair was a shimmering white and his eyes were a wine red, glistening in amusement. "Kabuto was a joke, Riptide barely had a fill for battle up against him. One slash, that was all it took. He's gone from all creation now, he won't be bothering us again."

"Perfect," Naruto smirked. "I knew I could count on you to deal with him." While he wished he could have handled Kabuto by himself, he'd left Kabuto to Percy since he trusted the demigod to make sure the slippery servant of the snake didn't escape just like he was prone to with his master, the teen was his right hand man after all.

Percy just shrugged, twirling Riptide lightly. "Let's just hope Pinecone Face and Shadow Cat herself didn't kill any of the Konoha Shinobi."

"We only killed the pale one who was sneaking off towards Naruto and the Pedo's fight," Thalia said as she walked into the clearing, Blake beside her. "My only regret is that Naruto didn't let us kill more of them.

"Now, now, Thalia," Naruto chided with amusement in his voice. "I have plans that require the Konoha Shinobi to live, but considering you were only stopping the pale one from interfering in my fight, I don't have a problem with you having ended him."

Thalia let out a small sigh of relief at that, while Blake merely smile, having expected it from the beginning. She'd spent the longest time with Naruto down in the pit, so she knew exactly the _real_ reason he didn't have a problem with the two ending that pale guy.

"Now what do we do?" Percy asked. "This trip seemed a little lack lustre, and I feel like you have some gears turning in that crazy mind of yours. So what are we doing next, Ruto?"

The blonde smirked and ran a hand through his hair, his golden eyes glittering in amusement. "Kabuto mentioned a base in Kumo," Naruto said. "First, I'm going to drag knowledge on all his bases from Orochimaru's deceased brain, then turn it in for the bounty. After that, we'll be heading to that base and finding just who or what Orochimaru wanted to use to improve his body."

Thalia and Blake nodded, but Percy raised an eyebrow. "And?" he ventured.

"Let me keep some secrets, Percy," Naruto grumbled with a huff, earning a chuckle from the Son of Poseidon, and giggles from both Thalia and Blake at how childish Naruto was acting.

Three Thousand years down in the pit couldn't change the Jinchuuriki completely, only somewhat. He wouldn't be Uzumaki Naruto if he allowed himself to be moved by something he considered trivial, after all.

 **-Line Break-**

"I want the details on the mission," Tsunade ordered as she sat at her desk, now exhausted from working on Sakura. She didn't know what happened to the girl, but the would was incredibly hard to heal for some reason, and she wasn't done yet. She still had to try and figure out just why Sakura didn't seem to be able to use her chakra.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said. "After we left the village, we travelled for a day before we stopped near the bridge and Yamato used his **Mokuton** to make us a house. At that time, we had dinner and he placed seeds as trackers in Sai's food so that we could trace him. The next day, we hid in the bushes and were surprised to see a member of the Akatsuki, Akasuna No Sasori, meeting on the bridge with a spy for Orochimaru."

"A spy?" Tsunade asked, her eyes narrowing. "Just who was this spy, that even Orochimaru didn't notice?"

"It was Yakushi Kabuto," Kakashi said, making Tsunade growl as she remembered that man. "Sasori then asked a few questions about Orochimaru's movements, which Kabuto supplied before asking for something. As Sasori was about to give it, he seemed to sense something and his tail flicked out, causing Kabuto to jump to his side as a Kunai flew past where Kabuto's head was.

"Orochimaru appeared…" the scarecrow sighed. "Just as it seemed Sasori and Kabuto were about to fight Orochimaru, Kabuto turned on Sasori and destroyed his outer shell, a puppet he was hiding himself in, revealing a young man with red hair. Orochimaru then told Sasori to have us stop hiding, but even Sasori was surprised when we jumped out."

Kakashi took a breath before continuing. "There was some small talk, before suddenly a hand shot from behind Sasori and tore out some sort of…circular container, crushing it in his hands, and just like that, Akasuna no Sasori died."

Tsunade's eyes widened and she sat up, clearly surprised. "Was this person who killed Sasori…the same man from Suna?"

"Yes," Kakashi nodded. "I saw his golden eyes, there was no doubt. Then three people appeared at his sides, a boy with black hair and green eyes, a girl with black hair and blue eyes, and another girl with long black hair and amber eyes. In order, they were named Winter, Autumn, and Gambol. He then ordered Autumn and Gambol to deal with us, while telling Winter to handle Kabuto, saying he'd deal with Orochimaru himself.

"Instantly, Autumn and Gambol jumped towards us, and Autumn used a **Raiton** Jutsu I'd never seen before. She somehow made a dome of lightning all around us that wouldn't allow us to escape, of that I'm certain. Then Gambol began to face Sasuke in combat, while Yamato and I tried to face Autumn. Yamato trapped her with his **Mokuton** but she destroyed the cage with lightning with ease. That's when Sakura tried to attack but…"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "But what?"

"She stabbed Sakura with her spear," Kakashi told her. "And then, Sakura seemed to be unable to heal her wounds with Chakra, unable to use it at all, so I ordered a retreat. Autumn was reluctant, but Gambol was stern and told her to release us. It was at that point Autumn vanished the dome and allow us to escape. It was only a short while later we heard an explosion and noticed Sai wasn't with our group, so we concluded he must have been under Danzo's orders and was killed by someone before he could fulfil them. We rushed here as fast as we could so you can heal Sakura. In other words, the mission was a failure."

The blonde Hokage took a few deep breaths as she processed just what Kakashi had said. Winter, Autumn, and Gambol. "What about the cloaked man?" she asked. "Did we get a name?"

Sasuke stood forward. "I heard Winter refer to him as…Phoenix."

"Phoenix…" Tsunade muttered, closing her eyes in thought. "Very well, you are all dismissed."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Kakashi, Yamato and Sasuke said as one before they all left the room, leaving Tsunade to think.

And think she did. They were unusual names for people to have, Winter, Autumn, Gambol, and Phoenix. Almost like code names, however she doubted that were the case. Shinobi stopped being so stealthy a long time ago.

With a grunt, she began to write a message for a carrier bird. She had four people to add to the Bingo Book.

 **-Line Break-**

Neo hummed happily as she sat on her throne in the castle, a smug grin on her face. Call her old fashioned, but sitting on a throne really helped in making her feel superior to everyone else around her. It helped in making everyone know _she_ was the Alpha among women, and nobody else would ever take that precious spot from her no matter what they did.

"I wonder how my foolish husband's mission is going," she mused, putting a finger on her chin as she thought about just how Naruto was doing. She'd no doubts in her mind that he'd skin that snake, hell she might even get a nice new purse from it…scratch that, she didn't want a purse made from a Paedophile's skin.

"Speaking of which, we really should get to clothes shopping soon," she mused, a grin on her face. She may not have like a woman normally did, but she loved shopping…if only because Naruto's look of horror at the idea made her shiver with delight.

"Lady Neo," a voice said, causing said girl's ears to perk up as she turned to look at just who was calling for her. And she barely suppressed a wolf whistle at the sight of the woman.

Long blonde hair that had light curls in it, almost rivalling her husband's hair in beauty, stormy grey eyes that seemed to have a thousand thoughts running through them at once. A perfect face that any man could fall for, and wearing white robes that modestly covered her body, and yet showed herself off at the same time.

Neo nodded politely at her own and her husband's advisor, Athena. Once known as the goddess of Wisdom and Knowledge, she now faithfully served herself and Naruto with fierce loyalty. It was almost amusing how loyal Athena was towards the two.

"Why Athena," Neo smirked. "What an unexpected visit. And just what as dragged you over here today?"

"I have been thinking," Athena said, earning an eye roll from Neo. Athena was _always_ thinking. "And I was wondering if, perhaps, we might have room for a few more areas within our mighty kingdom for construction?"

Neo raised an eyebrow and leaned back, gesturing for Athena to continue. "Go on," she said patiently, more than willing to hear her out.

"First, I thought of the idea of having three different Academies," Athena said, holding up three fingers. "The first would be an Academy for Civilians, one where they can pick a specific career like a carpenter or a blacksmith, and learn how to efficiently do these jobs so that people can hire their services in and out of the Kingdom in future.

"The second Academy would be for those of us who wish to be Shinobi," she continued. "Lord Naruto would be the one to teach them, if he could spare a few clones to do so, and teach them the essentials of _true_ Shinobi life, and then in future some of those students could teach the next generation of students, and so on and so forth.

"And finally, the third Academy would be for those who want to be warriors. Not Shinobi, who are meant to hide in the shadows and do the dirty work, but for people who fight righteously and would be at the front in times of war, and would take some Shinobi jobs like bodyguard services, and guarding smaller towns, while our Shinobi would take the dirtier missions, like assassination and spying."

Tilting her head in thought, Neo once again couldn't help but admire how well thought out Athena's plan was. If she was thinking right, Athena intended for their Shinobi to truly hide in the shadows and never be discovered. "I assume that we would hide the Shinobi academy?" Neo asked.

"Yes," Athena nodded. "I would ask Lord Naruto to use a **Jikukan** Jutsu to bend the space around the Academy so only certain people would be able to see it and access it, like the teachers or the students."

"I will discuss it with my husband when he returns, but know you have my approval," Neo promised. "Now, you said 'first you thought of,' which means you have other ideas?"

Athena nodded. "Yes. I was thinking of the possibility of…a Summer Camp of sorts to be made a couple of miles from the village. It would be for the people who wish to be warriors, and would be entirely optional and up to them if they wished to go. It would be hidden from sight from all except the Children and the instructors teaching there, once again from a **Jikukan** Jutsu I hope Lord Naruto would be kind enough to set up. At the camp, there will be various activities from fun ones in a typical camp life, to hardened ones such as sword training, archery practice, javelin throwing, and many more."

Neo smirked, "A little throw back to your time as a goddess, Athena?" she asked in amusement, causing the true immortal's cheeks to flush golden from being called out. "Don't worry, that's a good idea, and I fully approve. I'm certain Naruto will upon his return as well."

A sigh of relief came from Athena and she bowed. "Thank you for listening, Lady Neo. I look forward to hearing Lord Naruto's answer as well," with that, she quickly turned and left, while Neo laughed lightly.

"We should give her a raise," Neo giggled in amusement, before she felt a pulse. She reached up and grasped a small emerald around her neck, closing her eyes.

 _'Yes, Naruto?'_ she thought.

As soon as she did, the voice of her husband came through. _'We will be back in a day or two,'_ he said. _'We will be picking up Orochimaru and Akasuna no Sasori's bounties, then heading to his secret base in Kumo to find what he planned to use to increase his power.'_

 _'Very well,'_ she thought, though she knew her voice sounded a little whiny. What? She liked spending time with her husband, it was perfectly normal!

 _'What?'_

 _'It's nothing dear, it's not like I wanted to go on the mission too…'_

She smirked a little as she felt him flinch through their mental link. _'Ah…um…how about when I come home I make you the ice cream you like so much? And promise to bring you on the next mission?'_

 _'Promise?'_

 _'I promise.'_

 _'Then you are forgiven,'_ she told him, a smug smirk on her face. Having your husband whipped was one of the greatest victories for a woman, without a doubt.

 _'Good, I'll see you in a day or two. I love you.'_

 _'I love you too,'_ she said, and cut their link otherwise they'd be saying it for the next 10 minutes. She released her necklace and opened her eyes, a huge grin on her face.

She hummed happily, thinking about how good the ice cream would be, while she idly wondered just what the next mission would be. She hoped she got to kill someone.

Far away, a religious nut in a black cloak with red clouds on it sneezed loudly, earning an annoyed grunt from his money obsessed team mate.

 **-Line Break-**

 _"So, you actually came," Ruby said to me, her silver eyes narrowed on my form as she held her large scythe…Crescent Rose, if I remembered correctly. "I thought for sure you would run away like a coward, but it appears you are more brave than I thought…or perhaps you are foolish."_

 _"Well, who knows?" I shrugged, stretching a little as I stared at her weapon without concern. I knew she was confident in her abilities, but I was confident in mine as well. And there was no way I was going to let myself be defeated._

 _"Before we begin, is there a way to make our bet binding?" I asked curiously. I didn't want to risk her weaselling her way out of the bed._

 _Ruby's eyes narrowed at me. "There is…it is called swearing on the River Styx. Any oath sworn on it is completely binding. If you break it, you die. Or you suffer a fate worse than death."_

 _"Then let's swear on it," I shrugged without a second care. "I swear on the River Styx that if I lose this fight, I will fight in the Arena for 300 years."_

 _Instantly, I heard a loud boom of thunder, causing everyone's eyes to widen at how carelessly I made such a serious oath. What? It wasn't like I was not going to do it if she won, I was a man of my word._

 _Gritting her teeth, Ruby spoke up, "I swear on the River Styx to abandon the Arena and help Naruto Uzumaki and Blake Belladonna search for the rest of my team mates until we find them." Thunder boomed loudly, sealing the oath._

 _"Was that so hard?" I asked mockingly. I'd cornered her against the wall with that. She had to swear on the Styx or she'd have seemed like a liar. And that wouldn't be very good for the so called 'Queen' of the Arena._

 _"Silence, swine," she hissed. "All you've done is make it certain that you won't escape from your punishment once you are defeated."_

 _"Speaking of defeat, when will this fight end?" I asked her, curiously. "How do we determine a victor?"_

 _"It won't matter…" she smirked. "Because you won't be able to land a single hit on me. But I'll be generous, if you can hit me then you win. And what of you? What are your conditions for your defeat._

 _"Until I can't move any more or until I'm dead," I told her simply. Nobody looked surprised at my words, though Blake looked worried. I gave her a grin as I spotted her, trying to convey that I'd be fine. Her worried look didn't vanish._

 _"A foolish man, aren't you?" Ruby asked rhetorically, glancing up at one of the body guards she had, standing near her throne. "You'll be the referee."_

 _The man nodded. "Let the battle begin!" he roared._

 _I hardly had time to blank before my world erupted in pain, a loud scream leaving my lips as I no longer felt his left arm on my body._

 _Looking back, I saw Ruby standing behind me, a sadistic look on her face as the blade of her scythe was now sporting blood,_ my _blood. And at her feet was my arm._

 _"Was that too much for you?" she asked, twirling her scythe. "I could balance it out for you, take off your other arm while I'm at it."_

 _"No, I'm good," I told her, gritting my teeth as I called upon the chakra I'd stolen from the Kyuubi. With a roar, I forced it to my left arm. I saw Ruby's eyes widened as my arm regrew itself within a matter of moments. I smirked at her. "Like I said, I'm good," I said mockingly._

 _Her surprised face turned into a snarl. "It matters not," she told me. "So you can regenerate, it won't matter if I take off your head!"_

 _"You won't get another chance," I told her coldly, as I called upon the beast's chakra once more, causing my form to change to the one I'd taken in my mind once I'd taken its chakra. "Man…I can't get over the rush of power I get in this form…" I smirked._

 _Ruby's eyes narrowed. "So you're gold now. So what? It won't change the fact that I-"_

 _"That you what?" I asked as I was suddenly standing in front of her, holding my fist to her face. Even I was surprised at my new speed, and so was everyone else. "You say you got strong all alone, and yet I think that's a lie. I think somewhere deep down, you know that I'm right…" I jumped back, cracking my knuckles. "That's why I was able to gain this power, to show you what you've forgotten!"_

 _She stared at me before she growled. "Why did you pull your fist away from my face?" she asked. "Are you pleased that you moved so fast? Are you pleased I didn't expect you to move at such a speed!? Miracle's only happen once, you brat!" she snarled at me, crouching a little as she glared at me hatefully._

 _"You should hold up on the snarling, it ruins your cute face," I said without really thinking. If she was effected by my words, she certainly didn't show it. Instead, she charged at blinding speeds, swinging her scythe at my head. It seems she didn't want me in her arena any more._

 _But in this form, I could see her. It had enhanced my body and all my senses, including my sight. I quickly pulled out a kunai and blocked her scythe to stop it decapitating me._

 _I saw her eyes widen in shock. "Impossible," she whispered. "Nobody should be able to react to my speed."_

 _"And yet here I stand," I told her, struggling a little to hold back her scythe. Damn, the girl was really strong. I suppose that's what a thousand years down in this hell hole did for you. "Man, that's some serious power you're packing there, I think you might be even stronger than Baachan."_

 _"Don't compliment your enemy, are you an idiot!?" she snapped at me, clearly infuriated. "Why do you still hold hope!? You know you can't win! I have a thousand years of experience on you, there is no chance for your victory."_

 _"Because there's one title I plan to retain for all of time," I told Ruby, pushing back against her scythe as my Kunai cracked. "A name I earned years ago, and one I wear with pride. One someone like you, who has lived a thousand years and thinks things through, could never hope to counter."_

 _"And what would that be?"_

 _I smirked at her as I ducked under her scythe, causing the blade to pass right over my head, and causing her to stumble from the suddenly continue in her attack. "The Number One Most Unpredictable Knuckle Head Shinobi!" I jumped back and reached into my kunai pouch, pulling out several small Kunai that I had placed special seals upon, and I tossed them all over the arena, making a few hand seals. "_ ** _Kunai Kage Bushin No Jutsu!_** _" I yelled, and the kunai I'd thrown multiplied, reaching the hundreds as they embed into the ground all over the battle field._

 _Ruby quickly regained her footing and looked at all of the Kunai cautiously. "And what good will that do you?" she growled at me, while I just smirked._

 _"You've been sleeping in darkness for a long time," I said. "It's time I showed you just what the light looks like. You may be a blur, but I'm a_ flash _."_

 _She growled at me, becoming a blur as she charged towards me with her scythe, intending to try and take my head off again._

 _"_ ** _Hiraishin No Jutsu_** _," I said calmly, and before her eyes I vanished in a golden flash, standing by a kunai behind her as she grind to a halt, turning around and looking at me with wide eyes. "A little gift from my father to me, his masterpiece of a Jutsu he learned from the Nidaime Hokage's notes."_

 _"You…!" she growled, no doubt infuriated at me being so much faster than she was. "I'll kill you!" she roared as she charged at me again._

 _I stretched as golden chains shot out from my back and towards her, forcing her to dodge and cancel her charge, gaining some distance from me. "_ ** _Kongo Fusa_** _," I said. "The Bloodline of the Uzumaki Clan, strong enough to stop even a rampaging Kyuubi. A gift from my mother to me. But…" the chains shot back into me. "I'm not going to beat you with the_ ** _Hiraishin_** _or the_ ** _Kongo Fusa_** _. I'm going to beat you…"_

 _I opened my palm and closed my eyes for a minute, before they snapped open and a spiralling silver ring appeared in my hands. I'd been working on this technique for five years, and now it was time for it to debut. "With my own technique!" I roared at her and charged, becoming a blur._

 _"Die!" she screamed as she charged at me, swinging her scythe towards me, intending to kill me._

 _Just as she was about to decapitate me, I pulled back at the last second, causing her eyes to widen, and I did the one thing nobody expected of me._

 _I threw the ring at her and yelled, "_ ** _Rasenwa_** _!"_

 _As it reached Ruby's stumbling form, it moving up and lowering itself around her body, before it tightened, causing her arms to press against her sides. "Wh-what is this!?" she screamed as she dropped Crescent Rose._

 _I took a knee as I inhaled a deep breath, dispelling the Kyuubi's Chakra. Technically I hadn't hit her, so the match was still on, but at this point my victory was assured. The_ ** _Rasenwa_** _was a binding technique I'd created. Not only did it bind the opponent's arms, but it also caused their legs to grow weak so they couldn't use them to run._

 _I slowly stood up after a moment and walked towards Ruby, who was still struggling. "Get away from me!" she screamed. "I won't go with you! I won't let myself trust again only to be left behind!"_

 _"And I don't plan to leave you behind," I told her as I stopped in front of her, crouching down. "I didn't fight you with the intention of making you be alone after. I fought with you with the intention of reuniting you with your team, your_ friends _. I know you've been alone, and I know that you don't trust anyone because of it. But it's time for you to step out of the shadows and into the light, Ruby. Where you belong. Blake is waiting for you, and with your help I'm sure we can find Yang and Weiss."_

 _"...Y…you promise you won't leave me behind?" she asked, tears filling her eyes. "You won't leave me all alone to suffer again?"_

 _I smiled and tapped her forehead, that being the one blow I needed to win against her. "I promise, Ruby, you won't be left behind."_

 _With that, she burst into tears and the bodyguard called the match, shock on the faces of everyone in the arena, though Blake's face was filled with joy._

 _I smiled and looked up into the void above. It might have just been me…but I couldn't help but feel that this bleak pit of darkness had gotten just a little bit brighter._

* * *

 **Jutsu:**

 **Name: Ransenwa (Spiralling Ring)**

 **Rank: A (Possible S depending on power put into it)**

 **Class: Fuinjutsu, Ninjutsu**

 **Description: The user forms a ring above their hands similar to the Rasengan, but as a silver ring with the spirals moving so fast the ring glows pure silver. It can then be administered normally or thrown. In both cases, it expands and lowers over the enemies head to the middle of their body, before tightening and binding their arms to their sides, while also causing their legs and body to grow weaker depending on the power put into the Jutsu.**


	6. VI: A Brief Trip

**AN: For Disclaimer and warnings, see the first chapter**

 **Current Crossovers:** **Bleach, RWBY, Devil May Cry, Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Fate, Oda Nobuna No Yabou**

 **Harem has been updated. Current Harem: Neopolitan (Main), Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, Rukia Kuchiki Fem!Ulquiorra, Tia Halibel, Lady, Trish, Thalia Grace, Athena, Cinder Fall, Oda Nobuna (New Member), Mordred (New Member), Arturia Pendragon (New Member), Rin Tohsaka (New Member)**

* * *

 _It took longer than I thought it would for things to calm down in the arena, but after a few days of waiting, Ruby was all cleared and a new boss had been chosen. Blake and I were waiting just outside the room she had in the arena as she gathered her stuff. I honestly felt a little bad for her to be packing. In a way, this arena was_ her _Konoha. Her home, the only place she'd known for most of her life. And now she had to leave it behind._

 _"I'm sorry…" I heard Blake mumble, and I looked to her with a raised eyebrow. "You had to fight Ruby because of me…at the start, had she aimed for your head, you would have died Naruto…"_

 _"But she didn't," I told her. "And I'm perfectly fine. I even regrew my arm okay…honestly it could have been a LOT worse if I'd messed that up."_

 _Blake's eyes narrowed. "Worse how?"_

 _"There's a chance I could have regrown a leg where my arm was…"_

 _She stared at me before pinching the bridge of her nose. "Only you Naruto…only you could be so rash when testing out healing."_

 _I chuckled nervously and was about to respond, when Ruby's voice came from the room. "S-sorry for taking so long!" Blake and I looked to the door to see Ruby standing there with a red suitcase at her side. I didn't even want to know just how she was able to get a suitcase of all things down in Tartarus. I didn't quite know why, but her face was flushed as she looked at the two of us._

 _"It's fine," I waved it off. "We aren't in any hurry, we have all the time in the world to search for your sister and your partner."_

 _"R-right!" I didn't know why, but it seemed that after our fight she had regressed in personality quite a bit. My guess was that years of bottling up her emotions and becoming cold wasn't good for her health. And I caused them to erupt when I promised her that I wouldn't leave her behind. She'd cried for a whole day without stopping, and by the time she'd stopped it was like she'd returned to the fifteen year old girl she used to be._

 _Blake rolled her eyes and gently pat Ruby on the shoulder, but the girl flinched from the contact, and Blake suppressed a sigh. It seemed Ruby was still feeling the after affects of being all alone for so long._

 _A brief strike of pain hit me as I felt my pity for the girl rise. In a way, I supposed we were both similar. We were both all alone, practically abandoned by the people who were supposed to care for us._

 _I shook those thoughts from my head and pulled out a sealing scroll, before I set her suitcase on top of it. At Ruby's curious gaze I held up a hand. "Just watch," I told her before I placed my hand on top of the suitcase. "_ **Fuin!** _" as soon as I spoke the words, there was a puff of smoke and the suitcase was gone, now sealed into the scroll._

 _"Woah!" Ruby's eyes sparkled, and at that moment, I couldn't see her as anything other than a fifteen year old. With her sparkling eyes and awed expression…I couldn't help but smile at how adorable she looked right then. "What was that!?"_

 _"Unlike you Ruby, I don't use Aura," I told her. "I use another power known as 'Chakra.' It is the combination of physical and spiritual energies. With it, I am able to perform great feats such as manipulating the elements, creating solid clones of myself, and even transforming my body into that of another person or object. Of course, I can run low on Chakra just like you can run low on Aura. The usage of Chakra isn't something that is unlocked by another person, like Aura. It is something you are born with, and then it is up to the person that has it to nurture it, to help it grow. Due to some…unique circumstances surrounding me, I have a monstrous amount of Chakra, that will no doubt grow the longer I remain in Tartarus."_

 _Ruby looked amazed by my explanation, while Blake just smiled. I'd told her about Chakra before, so it shouldn't have come as a surprise. "How come Blake hasn't unlocked your aura?" Ruby asked. "If she had, you'd be unstoppable!"_

 _"I asked her not to," I told Ruby. "There is a…chance that Aura shall have some negative effects on me due to circumstances I have not even told Blake about. I do not want to risk those effects to accidentally cause harm to either of you."_

 _Ruby nodded slowly, showing she understood. As we were about to leave, she spoke up. "Um…before we go, is it okay if we grab one of the…prisoners to take with us?"_

 _Immediately, I knew something was off. I narrowed my eyes at her as I saw her fidget. Ruby had been very cold before the fight, and yet she wanted us to take one of the prisoners with us? Something was fishy, I could tell. "Name?"_

 _Ruby took a deep breath, and spoke the name, and instantly I froze. I knew that name very well. It was one of the few names I'd paid attention to in history class. The legend of the greatest Warlord of the West, who very nearly moved their conquest to the Elemental Nations. Nobody dared challenge them, they were far too powerful._

 _I felt myself shiver. That person was someone to be feared. A demon in combat and tactics…someone like that…_

 _I wanted them on my side._

 _"Very well," I said to Ruby, smiling. "Let's go and get Oda Nobuna, shall we?"_

 **~Ashes To Ashes~**

 **VI: A Brief Trip**

As they walked away from the bounty station, Naruto was whistling a little tune, pleased with recent events. Orochimaru was dead, and he'd gotten some very good information from the serpent's brain. Despite how sick the man was, he held a vast amount of knowledge, knowledge Naruto could share with Athena for the betterment of his Kingdom. And they'd made a nice little sum of money to go with that Snake's head. AND Naruto had a nice little gift for his wife when they got back home. He'd have to make sure he cleaned the **Kusanagi** before he gave it to her though. _Very_ thoroughly.

"So Kumo next?" Percy asked as the group walked away from the station. He had an amused grin on his face from the gob smacked expression the man they'd given Orochimaru's head to had on his face. It took quite a lot of Percy's willpower to not burst out laughing at it. He'd save the laughter for later.

"Yes," Naruto nodded. He hadn't once lowered the hood of his cloak while they were in the station, not wanting to be identified at all. Even Percy had stayed in his 'Winter' form. Thalia and Blake didn't seem to particularly care if people knew about them, and it was because of this Naruto knew he'd be hearing about the two of them in the Bingo Books soon enough. "I want to find out just who this person Orochimaru has prisoner there. He was hoping to replicate the effects their body held onto himself, and I am…curious as to why he'd want that on his body right away, rather than just taking over the person."

"Shouldn't you know?" Thalia asked. "You did absorb his brain and stuff, right?"

Naruto shook his head. Absorbing knowledge and memories was tricky business, since he'd never been one for finesse. "No, I don't know the details," he said. "I am shuffling through the memories as we speak, but I am finding no trace of just what Orochimaru wanted with this person's DNA. I only know he planned to put the effects onto his own body. The details of the person, their name, gender, and what they had are a mystery to me."

Blake sighed in exasperation. "This is why you need to pay attention more often," she told Naruto. "Kabuto inferred that the person we are going to be finding is a woman. So that narrows down our search through his Kumo base."

The blonde chuckled sheepishly. "My bad, I was more concerned with the fact Kabuto was the spy. Honestly, I knew he was just as slippery as his master, but spying on the Akatsuki for Orochimaru? That man must have had balls of steel. Shame he'll never get to use them now," Naruto gave a knowing look to the son of Poseidon, who just gave him an innocent smile.

Shaking his head, Naruto turned his gaze back forwards as the group walked. "From where we are, I think we could get to Kumo in a day if we utilised our own unique ways of travelling. Percy, you call in Blackjack. Thalia, you'll be summoning Tempest, and he shouldn't disobey you after the last time. Blake, you'll be travelling through the shadows. I'll be running."

None of them questioned it when Naruto said he was going to be running. Even without utilizing Kyubi's cloak, Naruto was a monster when it came to speed. Unbidden, the memory of the day Naruto encountered a group of monsters while he was not in a good mood came to Blake's mind.

She visibly shuddered. It wasn't a fight that day. She'd never seen such fury in Naruto's eyes since that day, and she never wanted to again. Blake was not afraid of many things. But an angry Naruto was without a doubt at the top of the list of things she _was_ afraid of.

"Where will we be meeting up?" Percy asked Naruto. He wanted a solid location to meet up with the group so none of them got lost. Gods knew it had happened before, and he wasn't eager for a repeat.

"By **Kaminari No Kuni** 's border, we can all head to Kumo from there," Naruto told them. "But we won't be going into the village itself. Instead, we'll be heading to the right of it and a little inland, that's where Orochimaru has his secret base. Not a bad thought actually, having it so close. A quick henge into a snake and he could slither in without any suspicion, nobody would suspect that he'd have a base right by Kumo. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

"Good plan, but cocky," Thalia spoke up, getting Naruto to nod.

"Now let's go," he told them. "We are losing daylight, and I'd like to be at the border by nightfall if possible. Break!"

Instantly, the group dispersed. Within a few minutes, Percy was flying on a black winged horse towards Kumo, while Thalia was beside him, on a horse made of storm clouds. Blake was nowhere in sight as she travelled through the shadows. And Naruto?

He was sitting at the border of Kumo already, waiting for the group to arrive, a smirk on his lips. "Perhaps I should have ran a little slower," he mused aloud.

It wasn't his fault everyone else was so slow.

Knowing they were going to take quite awhile, Naruto closed his eyes and meditated, allowing himself to fall into the depths of his mind scape. It was the job of the warden to check on the prisoner every so often, after all.

 **~Ashes To Ashes~**

 _How long since his last visit here?_

Naruto walked through the halls of the mind scape, his eyes glistening with twisted ambitions as he walked down the flooded hallway. Over time, his mind had stopped being just a sewer. The water ran a clear blue all over…except in one place. In that one place, the water was filthy, and horrid, as it should be. Turning a corner, he saw the detestable water and walked through it, his eyes glistening with malicious glee.

 _He remembered it…the foul beast that had taken his life from him, his family…he never forgot. He would_ never _forget._

As he walked, a pair of large, bronze gates came into view. They used to be iron, but Naruto had decided bronze suited this place much more nicely. Peaking into the cage, he smirked as he saw the large, orange fox waiting for him. But the crimson eyes that looked back at him were empty, without emotion. It was as if they'd been drained of all life.

 _When he'd found the time…he'd came back…and made the beast suffer for its transgressions against him…_

"Still holding out on the naive hope you'll be permitted to remain a fox," Naruto sneered, his eyes narrowing at the large orange fox, that flinched in fear at the tone. "When I give you an order, beast, I expect you to follow it to the letter. Now are you going to attempt to disobey me again? You _know_ what happened last time."

 _What was more humiliating than making it what the beast never wanted to be? His loyal pet, that would never dare turn against its…or rather…_ her _master._

The Kyubi bowed its head submissively. "Y…yes, my master…" it said in a soft, defeated tone, and Naruto continued to walk towards the cage as the fox. As he did so, the fox began to shrink in size…no longer the size of a mountain…no longer the size of a tall tree…no longer the size of the house…now the size of a human, with a human shape.

 _In all her attempts to corrupt him and make his life miserable, Kyubi had forgotten one, crucial thing. Uzumaki Naruto did not forgive any longer. And he would never forget either. She made his life hell…_

Standing before him now as a gorgeous girl with long orange hair that reached her waist, along with crimson eyes that flickered around nervously. She wore an orange kimono that reached her ankles, causing the bottom to be soaked in the disgusting sewer water. She looked at Naruto fearfully, her nine orange tails swaying behind her slowly. "I…is master pleased with this form…?"

 _And so he'd twisted her, he'd broken her. For all the legends about her power…all the warnings of how she caused destruction…Kyubi…no…Kurama only had one purpose in life now._

"Yes," Naruto smirked as he reached the gates of the cage, his right eye turning from gold to a shimmering silver, causing Kurama to flinch back in fear. He grinned viciously, "You forget your place, foolish Kitsune. _I_ make all the rules here. Now, you know what your punishment will be if you attempt to return to that detestable form…right?"

 _To serve her master, Uzumaki Naruto, as his faithful pet for all of time. She took everything from him, and in turn he broke her down until she would never disobey him._

"Y-yes master…" Kurama whimpered, lowering her head. "I…I understand…master is always correct…I…I am a filthy animal who is lucky master permits her to breathe…"

"Indeed you are," Naruto smirked. "While at Orochimaru's base, I shall have the mental link open. You WILL tell me about negative emotions being sensed. Comply, and you might actually get a meal," as he said this, the fox's eyes lit up with hope." Fail…" he trailed off, his grin turning dark as his silver eye shone brighter, causing the fox's face to once again fill with fear. "And I shall remind you just why you fear this eye so much…are we clear?"

"C...Crystal clear, master…" Kurama bowed her head submissively, unwilling to make eye contact. She might have been a demon…but she would not anger Uzumaki Naruto again. She had done so enough times to know that he only let her live for her power. It was a…Privilege for him to use her power. It was the reminder that she was there, waiting for him to return. Not out of love, or kindness.

She waited out of fear that he would do away with her.

"I'm glad to see you aren't completely incompetent," he turned and walked away from the cage, eliciting a small sigh of relief from Kurama. Suddenly he stopped. "But you must be punished for entering that foolish form without permission." He didn't need to look to know that horror had once again filled Kurama's expression. Holding his hand up, he snapped his fingers and grinned sadistically as the screams of agony began once again from Kurama, as she pleaded for him to forgive her and have mercy. He simply continued to walk away.

He had no mercy for such a pathetic existence as the Kyubi No Kitsune.

"Now, where are Orochimaru's memories…"

 **~Ashes To Ashes~**

After what could have been any length of time, Naruto's eyes slowly opened, and he immediately noticed he'd been meditating for a long time from how the sky looked. Compared to the shining sun, the sky was now dotted with stars and no longer such a bright blue. The moon shone brightly in the sky, but Naruto merely scowled at it and looked down, raising an eyebrow.

Laying there with her head in his lap was Blake, a small smile on her face as she slept peacefully. No doubt she'd placed herself there during his meditation and waited for him to stop, before she ended up falling asleep herself. Not uncommon, it wasn't the first time she'd something like this. And he imagined this wouldn't be the last either.

Hearing the boom of a storm cloud, Naruto couldn't help but smirk as he looked up and saw Thalia riding through the air towards him on Tempest. Percy was right beside her riding his loyal Pegasus, Blackjack. He did notice Thalia was looking at the ground warily.

Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes. _'She's still afraid of heights? She's the daughter of Zeus!'_ He didn't voice this aloud, however. That would have just been rude.

Soon, the girl touched down and hopped off of Tempest, who scattered into storm clouds and was gone. Percy touched down just after and said a few words to Blackjack, before sending the Pegasus on his way. He turned to Naruto, "You look comfortable," he said with amusement in his voice.

"Jealous, Perseus?" Naruto retorted with a grin.

"She'd tear my balls off, no thanks," he countered, earning a chuckle from the blonde at the truthful statement. Blake would have torn the balls of any guy who tried to get cosy with her outside of Naruto. Except maybe that Sun guy he sometimes heard her talk about with a little fondness, though she assured him she held no interest in him romantically.

He didn't blame her…the guy basically stalked her.

"At least you know your place, Water Boy," Blake said as she sat up and yawned lightly, rubbing her eyes a little. "I was having such a nice sleep and then Tempest woke me up."

"I would have woken you anyway," Naruto said as he slowly stood, stretching a little. "It is time to head to Orochimaru's base in Kumo. We should get there in a few hours if we run. We could get there in maybe one if we really pick up the pace."

"Let's go for one," Percy told Naruto. "Don't know about you, but I could do with some sleep. What will we do when we get to the base? Find the captive and slaughter everyone else there? Or will we let them run free?"

"We kill them all, of course," Naruto tutted. "We can't have people spreading Orochimaru is dead before it comes up in the Bingo Books, now can we? It's a shame we can't go to Konoha, I'd love to see Tsunade's face when she hears that one of her former team mates is dead."

"Oh if only we had a camera," Thalia bemoaned. "At least we can use electronics, since monsters don't seem to exist here…but honestly, how in the hell do you live without laptops!? What about YouTube!?"

"Laptops will probably exist in about 10 years," Naruto waved it off. "Now stop whining," he turned as he began to run, the group following behind him at good speeds, though they all knew he was consciously going quite slowly for them to keep up.

 **~Ashes To Ashes~**

It took just under an hour to get to the base as it turned out, which Naruto was most pleased with discovering. The sooner they dealt with this, the better. Covering the ground, he opened a hidden door and descended under ground, with his group of people following them.

As soon as they touched the ground, he immediately followed Orochimaru's path through the base, having Percy cut the head off of anyone who tried to stop them. It was almost amusing how many people tried to stop them, yet nobody ever once tried to raise the alarm. Not that it would have mattered.

Soon, the group reached a room that was lit, indicating people were in there. This was the room Naruto knew from Orochimaru's memories. Stepping inside, his gaze turned icy cold at what they saw.

What he first noticed was the sight of a gorgeous dark skinned woman with blonde hair, who was unconscious on a white operation table in only a white gown. The second thing he noticed? There was a group of three men around her, starting to strip. It didn't take a genius to figure out just _what_ the men were intending to do.

"Kill them," Naruto said in a deathly cold voice, and before the men could even fully comprehend the situation, heads were rolling on the floor, curtsy of Thalia, Blake, and Percy. The blonde spat on the face of one of them, before he walked to the woman and placed his fingers on her neck, searching for a pulse.

He was silent for a minute, before he spoke up. "Alive," he announced to them. "But she appears to be in a coma of sorts. We shall take her back with us to the Kingdom- really should get around to giving it an official name- and have our healers look over and care for her. You three clear up the trash in this place."

The three nodded and fled from the room as Naruto removed the various devices monitoring the girl. He lifted her up in his arms in the bridal position, and turned as he began to retrace his steps through the base. As he walked, he heard many screams and pleads for slaughter to stop. Naruto knew it wouldn't, none of the people here would leave alive, except his team and the woman he currently held in his arms.

Taking a breath, he climbed up the ladder that led down in to the base and was greeted by the night breeze. And there, he waited for the rest of his team to join him so they could return to the Kingdom.

He wanted to be surprised at what he had nearly seen happen. And seeing what he'd seen, he had to wonder…was this the first instance of something like this happening? Or had this happened before? Had someone dared to defile this woman while she was unable to defend herself?

He would not have such a thing happening again. Naruto had committed his fair share of crimes against humanity, but he had _never_ stooped as low as rape. Once he returned, he was going to make rape punishable by death. His golden eyes glowed maliciously, and the woman in his arms curled into his protective embrace.

Uzumaki Naruto was not happy. And that was not a good sign for anyone who was on his shit list at that moment.

Almost seeming to sense their imminent doom, various men and women shivered, a feeling of dread building in their stomachs.

 **~Ashes To Ashes~**

 _As we walked through the cells in the arena, Ruby leading us, I heard people beg and plead to be released. However we simply ignored them and kept walking. I felt bad, there were many people here, no doubt some of them were innocent and were forced here for no reason. But I had no way of knowing who the truly innocent were, and who the vile scum were._

 _Running a hand through my hair, I resisted the urge to sigh. We'd been walking for 10 minutes, and we were pretty deep in the cells of the arena now. "Just how high a profile person is Oda-san, Ruby?"_

 _"Very," she told me. "We had to put her in the tightest security we could, and only brought her out to fight once a year. Plus, we are unable to understand her speech. She talks an entirely different language that I can't understand, nor one that any of us recognise."_

 _I nodded slowly to that. Truthfully, I only understood the language because of the Kyubi, though I only discovered that recently. Apparently, it had knowledge of the language and sent it to me so I would be able to communicate with everyone. I hadn't even noticed I wasn't speaking my normal language until my second year with Blake._

 _"Then how the hell are we going to convince her we mean no harm?" I asked Ruby._

 _"Pray?" she offered, before having us all come to a stop. "There she is."_

 _I followed Ruby's gaze and raised an eyebrow at just who I saw, feeling startled at Nobuna's appearance. She was a fairly young woman with a lean frame. She had a heart-shaped face with big brown eyes. Her hair was blonde, and quite long, however she had it tied up, in a messy fashion with a red ribbon._

 _She had what seemed to be a pretty weird fashion sense. She wore a tiger skin wrapped around her waist, over a black hakama with yellow trim at the bottom, and white tabi with Zōri. She also wore green-blue coloured haori which she wore over only one shoulder._

 _Did I mention that I could perfectly see her black bra? No? Well I could._

 _"Back again?" Nobuna snarled at us, and my eyes widened as I realised I could understand her. She was- quite literally- speaking my language. "Is it time for my yearly fight already, scum?"_

 _I stepped forward, despite Ruby's protests as I addressed her in the same language she used. "A pleasure to meet you, Oda Nobuna. Word of your power and conquest reached even the ears of my people in the Elemental Nations. It is an honour."_

 _I saw Nobuna's eyes widen as she looked at me, before she grinned. "Ho? A Shinobi from those lands? I would have gone to conquer all of you too, had I not been dragged into this pit. But how unusual, I never thought I'd find someone who spoke my language down here, let alone someone as handsome as you."_

 _I felt my cheeks flush, before I chuckled. "You flatter me, oh great warlord."_

 _"Naruto, you understand her?" Blake voiced from behind me, sounding surprised._

 _"Yes, her native tongue is the same one my people use," I spoke again in English, before switching back to Japanese. "We are not here to make you fight, Nobuna. There has been a change in leadership of this Arena, I am going to help the former Queen and her comrade find their team mates while they were on the surface world. She suggested we bring you along."_

 _"Hoping for the company?" She asked with a flirtatious wink, however her words held an undertone that I would suffer if that was truly what I was after._

 _"Not in the way you are imagining," I told her. "While you are very beautiful, I do not lust after your body. I want you to join us because I know of your prowess in battle, of the tactics you can use that can make a nation tremble. I won't lie, I have intentions of breaking out of this pit and returning to the surface world. I plan on destroying the pathetic place known as Konohakagkure No Sato, for personal reasons. When that time comes, I want the Goddess of Victory on my side."_

 _Nobuna observed me for awhile, before she burst out laughing. "You have quite a silver tongue, boy. And your flattery is quite good too! Goddess of Victory, brilliant! Just answer one question, and your answer will affect my choice."_

 _"Ask away then."_

 _"Just what did the place known as the Strongest Shinobi Village do to you to earn your hatred?"_

 _I clenched my fist and my jaw tightened as I looked at her. "They treated me like a monster, they called me demon. And when I fulfilled a mission they wanted completely, they banished me from my home because they_ feared _my potential. And I intend to give them good reason to have feared me."_

 _The blonde smirked at me as she stood up slowly. "Determination. I like that in a man. And being treated like a demon…perhaps we are both different kinds of monsters then. I agree to your terms, boy! I'll aid you for as long as you shall have me. Your name?"_

 _"Uzumaki Naruto," I told her, before turning back to Ruby and Blake, who stared at me with anticipation. I switched to English. "Open the gate," I told Ruby. "She's coming with us."_

 _Ruby stepped forward and did just that, all while I knew that I'd just gained a powerful ally. One who I could trust with my life._

 _Unbidden, I thought of another girl who I once felt I could trust like that. I clenched my fist at the thought. That was right…I still had to find Neo at some point and apologise to her. And I_ would _apologise and earn forgiveness._

 _No matter what it cost me._


End file.
